Pleased Kull says 'Wow' after watching Saints win

After a second-place showing at their own tournament over the weekend, the St. Charles East girls volleyball team kept rolling Monday.

The Saints beat nonconference opponent Downers Grove South, 25-22, 25-18 in St. Charles and improved to 26-2 overall.

"Wow," St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "I was very pleased. I think some things we've been trying (out) worked today ... anytime you have a tough tournament, you are a little nervous about what might show up, and I am extremely proud of them. They are still doing really well, they are still having fun and they are still competing."

"We gained some confidence with how well we finished over the weekend, so we knew coming into this, we'd be able to handle such a good team as Downers Grove South," added junior Jacqui Seidel, whose team lost to just Joliet Catholic at the Mizuno Cup.

In Game 1, the Saints jumped out to a 5-0 start behind Seidel's serving, Downers Grove South errors and kills from Haley Streich. The Mustangs (17-7) eventually chipped away at the Saints' lead and were able to tie the game and take an 11-9 lead after 5 consecutive points.

But the Saints scored the next 10 of 12 points and built up a 20-14 advantage and never looked back. The Mustangs, however, got within 24-22 after back-to-back points, including a kill from Courtney Gosewisch, but St. Charles East closed it out with one of Seidel's match-high 11 kills.

The Saints got off to a similar start in the second game after scoring the first 4 points behind Seidel's serving and Streich at the net. Streich, who finished with 9 kills, tallied 4 in the first 6 points of Game 2.

"Haley had a nice night," Kull said. "(Setter Laura Homann, who had 27 assists) really used her tonight as well as Jacqui. Laura ran a great offense. It was a nice night."

"I love being in the front row with Laura so I can just go wherever," Streich added. "She's very awesome spreading out the offense and everything."

From there, the Saints never trailed. It helped in the middle of the game when they 7 of 8 points, thanks to Meghan Niski's serving, kills from sister Caroline Niski, Streich, Olivia Desormey and Downers Grove South errors. The match ended on back-to-back kills from Seidel.

"St. Charles East played great and we didn't," Downers Grove South coach Colleen Reagan said. "Jennie always has a good team and they play a competitive schedule. We were expecting to play a great team."