Saints shine in season opener
Caroline Niski lets everyone know how much she misses hitting with the way she serves.
Niski, an outside hitter for defending state champion St. Charles East, also is a team player. That's why she's starting the year at libero to fill in for the injured Maisey Mulvey.
But that doesn't mean Niski isn't going to miss hitting, especially when you can spike a volleyball as hard as the Maryland-bound senior can.
Niski played her first match in her new role Tuesday, helping the Saints to a season-opening 25-19, 25-20 victory over Wheaton North. The match was played at Wredling Middle School, St. Charles East's home away from home until the Saints' floor is fixed in about two or three weeks.
"I kind of look at it as I'm playing libero now, you can't get kills, so anything I can do to score a point for my team coming off my hand I love to do," said Niski, who will play libero at Maryland. "I still have that fire in me when I want to go up and kill it but I know I can't from the back row. If I can do that (an ace) for the team I'm happy."
Niski rocketed her first ace off her jump serve to give the Saints a 16-13 lead in Game 1. In Game 2, Niski aced the Falcons two more times.
Jacqui Seidel and Kathleen Dailey also delivered timely aces for St. Charles East (1-0).
"Our serve-receive broke down," Falcons coach Carole Kristensen said. "They are tough servers, compliments to them, but we broke down a little. I was surprised as many aces as they got."
Saints coach Jennie Kull said she expects Mulvey, who is out with a hip injury she suffered during the summer, to return soon, allowing Niski to go back to outside hitter. Samantha Szarmach filled in on the outside Tuesday.
"Sam stepped in outside and did a real nice job," Kull said.
Wheaton North (3-3) also has a bit of the injury bug early in the season. Kristensen welcomed back senior captain Liz Gulick, a co-captain who has two stress fractures in her back, to her first full match.
"She's still a little bit tentative and hasn't been doing a heck of a lot in practice," Kristensen said. "But she says she's ready to go. We're going to play her as long as she says she's healthy."
The Falcons led early in Game 1, the last time at 12-11. Meghan Niski served 3 points to put the Saints ahead for good, helped by a Seidel kill and block.
Seidel took a perfect pass from Caroline Niski and set Olivia Desormey for a kill and 22-17 lead. The Ball State-bound Seidel's block took the Saints to 24, and the Falcons made a passing error to end the game.
"Wheaton North played very well," Kull said. "It was interesting to see what we have. It's always hard to come in and start out with a team like that but I think they did a great job. It's a nice starting point."
Kelsey Kulow and Gulick's kills on sets from Katie Thornton helped the Falcons go up 6-3 in Game 2. Dailey fired an ace as part of a 6-1 run to put the Saints back on top, and St. Charles East continued to pull away when Caroline Niski's back-to-back aces made it 16-12.
"Last year we came out a lot slower," said Niski. "This year we kind of had the first-game jitters. The second game we jelled a lot better. We're really excited. We honestly didn't know how it would turn out with so many changes in our rotation and lineup. The new girls worked really hard in the off-season. We're really excited about this year."