St. Edward's Ayello serves 25 straight

For the second time in five days, a Fox Valley-area girls volleyball player tied a state record that can never be broken.

St. Edward sophomore libero Katie Ayello tied a single-game state serving record Thursday by serving 25 straight points in Game 2 of the Green Wave's 25-8, 25-0 victory over Rickover Naval Academy of Chicago at the Class 2A Willows Academy regional in Des Plaines.

The feat has been achieved six times by five players, most recently by Dundee-Crown sophomore Tess Barnes last Saturday against Chicago Perspectives Charter.

"I just served deep to the corners and aggressively, and I tried to just keep them in the court," said Ayello, a 16-year-old resident of West Dundee. "As it went on my team on the bench was all telling me, 'Don't miss your serve, don't miss your serve.' "

The Green Wave made 5 service errors in Game 1, but Ayello was perfect in completing the sweep. Of her 25 service points, 14 were aces.

"Katie served very consistently and it was a great team effort," St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi said. "When you score 25 straight points it means there were no errors, so the team did a great job of supporting her serve."

No. 2 St. Edward went on to defeat Woodlands Academy in the regional semifinal match 25-12, 25-16. Ayello had 23 digs in two matches, Callie Johnson had 7 kills and Annie Kelly finished with 15 assists.

St. Edward (10-28) will play Immaculate Conception (22-10) for the regional title on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Westminster Christian regional: The Warriors (24-11), facing two familiar opponents, took care of business Thursday night in their own Class 1A regional, defeating Alden-Hebron 25-18, 25-19 in match one before coming out to defeat Leland 25-16, 25-20 in match two.

"We played each of these teams earlier in the season, but they played a lot better tonight," said Westminster Christian coach Guy Lum. "Their teams fought hard, but our girls fought hard too."

Sarah Rodgers paced the Warriors offensively over the two matches with 10 kills and 7 aces while Emily Bickford added a team-high 11 kills. Cara Tyrrell also contributed, turning in an all-around performance with 4 kills, 5 assists, 10 aces, and 5 digs.

The Warriors advance to play for the regional title on Saturday at 6 p.m. against top-seeded Hinckley-Big Rock.

Kevin McGavin, Jerry Fitzpatrick and Courtney LaFerle contributed to this report.