Redwings take nothing for granted
Any concerns Benet volleyball fans may have had about their team looking past lesser opponents in the playoffs were put to rest in just 34 minutes Thursday night.
It took the No. 1-seeded Redwings little more than half an hour to dispel the 17th-seed Romeoville Spartans 25-9, 25-15 in the Class 4A Romeoville regional semifinal.
Benet (35-1) senior hitter Natalie Patzin insisted after the match that looking ahead to future games is not in this team's best interest.
"We know that it's now or never really, and we wanted to begin our journey with a win," Patzin said. "We have pretty high goals and pretty high expectations of ourselves, but we're going to take it one game at a time.
"You can never underestimate any team, because they can come out from behind, and we know we don't want to get surprised like that."
Senior setter Brianne Hucek echoed Patzin's exact thoughts.
"We try to take each game one at a time. We were totally focused before this match," Hucek said. "Throughout the whole match we were pretty focused, and I believe that's important."
It's difficult to decide where the Redwings' area of strength lied in the first game, a 25-9 thumping. Defensively, Benet allowed the Spartans to earn just 4 of their 9 points, while the sectional's top-seed rained down 9 aces and 8 kills.
"As far as us, in the first game, it was very clean volleyball," Benet coach Brad Baker said. "When it's 25-9, we did a lot of things very well."
Game 2 saw Benet utilize its depth much more, yet the Redwings still looked sharp. Benet racked up 3 more aces and 14 more kills in the deciding game. Patzin led all strikers with a match-high 8 kills.
The Redwings will attempt to get healthy by Saturday's regional final against Joliet Twp. Benet played Thursday's match with a banged-up Paige Vargas and without regular contributor Val Mattaliano.
"There were a couple things that were a little different," Baker said, "but if they needed to (contribute fully) they would've."
Saturday's regional final between the Redwings and Joliet Twp. will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, again at Romeoville High School.
"Joliet's a good team, and we're just looking forward to playing them and having a chance to move on," Baker said.