Saints again find third time is the charm
The St. Charles East girls volleyball team didn't have a lot of experience this season in matches that last three games until this week.
The Saints played back-to-back 3-game matches and came out winners both times. On Tuesday, they did it against Upstate Eight Conference foe Waubonsie Valley. On Wednesday, they came out successful against nonconference Barrington, 25-8, 22-25, 25-16 in St. Charles.
"I think it was good for us," St. Charles East's Caroline Niski said of another 3-game match. "It's a wake-up call... we were kind of coasting, but now it hit us. We realized we need to work harder because every team wants to beat us."
"It's not a trend we want to get into," added St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull, whose Saints improved to 19-1 overall.
In Game 1, the Saints scored the first 5 points, totaled 6 aces (including 3 in a row from Stacy Reid) and ended the game on a pair of back-to-back kills from Haley Streich and Meghan Niski. Four of Barrington's 8 points arrived on bad serves.
St. Charles East was ahead early in the second game, only to have Barrington score five consecutive points midway through for a 17-15 lead. The Fillies never surrendered their lead and ended the game on a Saints serving error.
"I really liked the tempo we played at," Barrington coach Christopher Bronke said of Game 2. "We've been working so hard all season on a faster-tempo ball to our outside hitters. Right now, it's close."
In the deciding game, the Saints jumped out to a 6-1 advantage and didn't need a big rally after that. Though they trailed the entire way, Barrington didn't seem that far from catching up to St. Charles East.
"I'm glad we were able to keep our composure and get back, regroup and finish the match," Kull said.
The Saints finished with 14 total aces and a well-rounded effort from Caroline Niski (12 kills, 7 digs, 3 aces), Streich (9 kills, 1 block, 2 assists), Laura Homann (39 assists, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 4 kills, 2 aces), Jacqui Seidel (10 kills, 4 blocks, 6 digs, 4 aces), Meghan Niski (7 kills, 8 digs, 1 block) and Maisey Mulvey (2 aces, 6 digs).
Barrington (6-14) was led by Anabel Perry (8 kills), Emily Harris (6 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks) and Madison Lang (15 assists, 4 aces, 2 blocks).
"I'm leaving here pretty proud of my team," Bronke said. "St. Charles East is a nice team and kept pressure on us, but tonight's lineup was the first time we played a match with that lineup. That may have freaked (the Fillies) out a little bit in Game 1, but they kept fighting. Even the slow start in Game 3 ended on a strong note, so I'm really proud of the kids now."