Wrap: N. Stars advance, Saints fall in volleyball regionals
St. Charles North set the tone early as it jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first game, giving it much needed momentum throughout its match against Prospect.
The seventh-seeded North Stars needed every single one of those points in the first game as the start of the game was no indication of how close it would be in the end. The North Stars (24-13) wound up winning the first game 25-22 and went on to win in straight games as it won the second game 25-23 to advance to play host Wheaton Warrenville South today at 7 p.m. for the regional championship.
"That first game did not help matters when we fell behind early on," Prospect coach Mike Riedy said. "We dug ourselves a huge hole and we were able to dig ourselves out of it and make the first game very respectable. But during that process I think it took a lot out of us."
After blowing a big lead like that in the playoffs, it might make a team not so confident.
According to St. Charles North outside hitter Rusty Lavaja, that was not the case with the North Stars.
"We were able to get the jitters out in the first game," Lavaja said. "We should be a bit more relaxed from here on out. We know that if we play to our potential and play our game we can beat anyone in state."
The ninth-seeded Knights (22-12) led for much of the second game until the 21-20 mark when Lavaja put a giant kill down in the middle of the court to grab a lead SCN would not give up the rest of the match. That kill was followed up with a block kill by the North Stars Brett Ellis.
St. Charles North coach Brad Mitchell said that he was given big performances by both Ellis and Lavaja.
"It was nice to see them both step up in a big match," Mitchell said. "Rusty, we always know what we are going to get with him, but with Brett, he is trying to find his role right now offensively. We know what we are going to get from him with the blocks, but when he finds that flow offensively we are going to be tough to beat."
Riedy agreed that the blocks were a big part of the success for the North Stars Tuesday night.
"It was frustrating to some of our players by not being able to put balls down that they usually would," Riedy said. "(Scott) Pickle had an extremely hard time having his balls find the floor tonight. Their defense played out of their minds. You have to take your hat off to them."
The North Stars were led by Lavaja and his 9 kills. Kegan Haeseli finished the match with a match-high 16 assists and 3 aces in the win.
Kevin Reed had a team-high 8 kills while Joe Colmone had a match-high 10 digs in the loss.
Elk Grove d. St. Charles East:ŒElk Grove, which lost a bit of focus late in the season after falling out of the MSL East title race, rebounded to score a 25-16, 25-10 boys volleyball regional semifinal victory over St. Charles East.
"We kind of fell off the map," said Elk Grove senior John Condon of the Grens, who lost 4 of their final 7 regular season matches but still finished second in the East behind champ Buffalo Grove. "We came out excited tonight."
Chris Brucher led St. Charles East (12-23) with 4 kills.
"We knew Elk Grove would be tough with the home court advantage," said St. Charles East coach Stephanie Gooden.
"They've got a roster full of club players, while we only have one. We've got a good, athletic team, but we're a young team, with not a lot of game experience."
St. Charles East closed to within 17-13 in game 1 before Elk Grove closed out on a 8-3 run, then the Grens scored 10 of the first 12 points of game 2 led by 2 of Robin Philip's 3 aces.
"We served well," said Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz. "Not a lot of aces, but our serving kept them back on their heels and put them in the position to have to make tough passes."
Nick Mortensen added 6 kills for Elk Grove (22-8).
-- Bill Esbrook
Baseball
Aurora Central Catholic 11, Sandwich 0 (5 innings): The Chargers (12-15) advanced to the semifinal of their own 3A regional and will play No. 1 Yorkville today.
Mark Adams batted 2-for-3, stole 3 bases and scored 3 runs. Matt Wagner and Pat Wondrak both homered.
West Aurora 13, Bolingbrook 4: After falling behind by four after the top of the first, the Blackhawks (17-16) stormed back with three in the first and four in the second.
Chris Richter batted 3-for-4 and drove in three runners while Kyle McCradic had 3 hits and scored as many runs. Blackhawk starter Jeff Etter (7-3) allowed only 1 hit over the final 6 innings.
West Aurora's next game is Thursday against Downers Grove North in the regional semifinals.
Boys lacrosse
STC seeded 7th:ŒThe St. Charles boys lacrosse team earned the No. 7 seed in the state tournament a first-round bye.
St. Charles will play its first playoff game Thursday at 7:45 p.m. at Norris Stadium against St. Viator, who defeated Glenbrook South 11-6 on Tuesday.
If St. Charles wins Thursday, it advances to the quarterfinals Saturday. St. Charles likely would be the lower seed and have to play an away game.
St. Charles finished the regular season with an 11-4 record and 5-1 in conference.
College Baseball
Batavia grad named CCIW All-Conference: North Park baseball player Zach Deutscher (Batavia) was named to the first team CCIW all-conference team. He is the first North Park freshman to be selected to first team in eight years.
Deutscher ranked sixth in the CCIW in batting average with .431. He had 3 doubles, 2 triples and 5 home runs. As a pitcher, Deutscher had 8 starts and 2 wins. In 43 innings pitched, he fanned 24 batters.
Priola honored:ŒRyan Priola (St. Charles East) was one of four Monmouth College baseball members who landed a spot on the All-Midwest Conference team.
In a vote of the league's coaches, he was named to the first team. It was his third all-conference honor. As the Scots designated hitter, he hit .350 this season and ended his career with a 348 average. He hit a team-high 10 doubles and led the team in runs scored with 25. He was second in RBI with 29.