St. Charles North dominates at net

Glenbard West appeared ready to rumble with St. Charles North in the early stages of the North Stars' Class 4A girls volleyball regional semifinal on Thursday night.

But St. Charles North and its front row had other ideas.

The North Stars displayed a dominant defensive performance at the net, recording 21 points via blocks to turn back the Hilltoppers 25-14, 25-16 in St. Charles.

The North Stars (24-11), the fifth seed of the Geneva sectional complex, will face Upstate Eight rival and fourth-seeded Bartlett, which outlasted Wheaton North in three grueling games, Saturday afternoon for the championship.

Glenbard West, the No. 12 seed, bowed out at 20-17.

"We did get blocked a lot," Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said. "The early run forced us out of our rhythm."

The Hilltoppers' coach was referring to a 6-point service run by the North Stars' Katie Fuerst which capped a 7-point unanswered run by St. Charles North.

The Hilltoppers' 2-0 first-game-opening lead was a distant memory the rest of the way as the squad did not have an answer for the North Stars' interchangeable blocking trio of Karlie Giesler, Allie VanDril and Jill Stolzenburg.

A VanDril kill provided St. Charles North with its first double-digit lead at 14-4, and a Jen Ask ace upped the first-game margin to 17-6.

Glenbard West capitalized on a series of North hitting mistakes to close within 19-13, but Giesler sandwiched an Ask kill with two more to conclude the first game.

The Hilltoppers kept Ask in check for the most part in the opening game, but the senior leader for the North Stars showed no mercy in the second game.

Ask had 7 of her match-high 8 kills in the second game, and Glenbard West faltered down the stretch of an otherwise close game.

Defense was the unquestionable difference.

"We have been working on blocking a lot in practice," Ask said. "It showed tonight that our blocking has improved. It's a great advantage and a great momentum-turner."

Conversely, the North Stars took an alternate route to stymie the Hilltoppers' defensive looks.

"We hit around their blocks," Ask said. "I kept swinging and found the open holes more (in the second game)."

Laura Luczak, returning from an ankle injury, brought Glenbard West to within 13-12 in the second game; Giesler, though, followed back-to-back block-kills by VanDril with a deft ace to terminate the threat.

"We sometimes tend to let up in the second game," Giesler said. "We just really focused on the block."

Emily Jenkins' 5 kills paced Glenbard West.