Benet recalls one that got away
Benet must have thought "that should be us" watching Mother McAuley warm up for Saturday's Autumnfest championship match.
At least the Redwings ended the day on a high.
No. 2 seed Benet, upset by No. 10 McAuley in quarterfinal action at Glenbard East, came back to take fifth in the 24-team tournament. Naperville Central finished fourth and St. Charles East seventh.
Top seed Joliet Catholic rolled over McAuley 25-7, 25-18 in the championship.
Benet, aiming for a second crack at Joliet Catholic this season, held leads of 17-13 in the first set against McAuley and 18-14 in the second. But the Redwings proved to be their worst enemy, committing 18 hitting errors and 6 net violations in dropping a 25-23, 25-22 decision.
"We were in control of both of those matches," Benet coach Brad Baker said, "but to lose to McAuley is not the worst thing in the world.
"Offensively, we're trying to be more diverse. Against McAuley we had times where we made mistakes trying to do things that's going to make us better at the end of the year. If it costs us now, so be it."
Benet (30-3) bounced back to beat St. Charles East 25-22, 18-25, 25-22 and Prairie Ridge 25-13, 17-25, 25-23 for fifth. Tied 20-20 in the third set against the Saints, Benet took the lead for good on kills by Gina Finke and Meghan Byrne. The Redwings trailed Prairie Ridge 21-18 in the third set, but a kill by Alyson Farm started a run to get Benet the lead at 22-21. A pair of kills by setter Kaitlyn King finished it.
"The good that we can take out of the day is that we had multiple matches where we were able to battle back and down the stretch play well," Baker said. "We need to build on that."
No. 3 seed St. Charles East dropped a 25-22, 22-25, 29-27 decision to Normal Community in the quarterfinals, then lost senior outside Caroline Niski to an ankle injury during the Benet match.
Niski was taken to the emergency room, and the severity of the injury is uncertain. But the Saints (26-6) bounced back to beat Hononegah 25-16, 25-18 for seventh.
Junior Sam Szarmach, called to duty in Niski's absence, had 7 kills against Benet and 8 against Hononegah. Jacqui Seidel had 15 kills against Benet, 31 for the day.
"Sam was able to step in and do a very nice job," Saints coach Jennie Kull said. "I'm very pleased with how they kept fighting. We're gaining experience playing in matches like these. Jacqui had a phenomenal tournament; she really took control of the team."
No. 12 seed Naperville Central, who knocked off Lemont in Friday pool play to advance to the Gold Division, kept it going Saturday by beating Hononegah 25-17, 25-11.
Then the Redhawks (18-15) ran into Joliet Catholic in a 25-16, 25-22 loss and ran out of gas in a 25-19, 25-19 defeat to Normal Community in the third-place match.
"We're better off playing these matches," Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said, "and hopefully we learned from them. We're giving up some points that we shouldn't be giving up at this point in the season, and I think we're starting to be just happy playing with good teams. We should be expecting to win. I think after that Hononegah match we got a little flat, like we were happy to be here."