St. Charles East withstands the pressure, downs York
When passing around the credit for St. Charles East's 10th sectional championship and hitting all the usual suspects like Jacqui Seidel, Meghan Niski, Erienne Barry and super sub Sam Szarmach, coach Jennie Kull offered one more name.
That would be assistant coach Mike Bui, whose suggestion might have saved the defending state champs' season Thursday night in the Class 4A Geneva sectional championship game.
With York's Bradley-bound Lauren Zerante frustrating Saints star Seidel in the first two games, Bui and Kull decided to change the Saints rotation for Game 3.
The result worked wonders, both for Seidel and more importantly her team. She pounded 7 of her 11 kills in the deciding third game of the Saints' 25-22, 18-25, 25-19 victory over York.
"We haven't changed our lineup all season, but at this point what do you have to lose," Kull said. "No. 8 (Zerante), she did a great job with her (Seidel). We got a better matchup for Jacqui in the front row so she was able to be more successful. It really worked out. That was great decision-making by Mike."
The Saints (32-6) now return home where they will host the Class 4A St. Charles East supersectional at 6 p.m. Saturday against Cary-Grove (35-4), who defeated the Saints in 2 games earlier this year.
A win would send Seidel to her third state tournament in as many years as a starter. That kind of pressure-packed experience one again paid dividends in the third game against York (28-9), who the Saints also beat in last year's sectional championship.
"We definitely had that sense of urgency in that third game," said Seidel, who will play next year at Ball State. "Having that experience of being in that type of match before and players who were on the team last year have taught the younger players how to handle the pressure really made the difference. The younger players really stepped up."
One of them was Niski, the Saints' sophomore outside who led the team with 13 kills while taking on an even bigger part of the offense with her sister Caroline still having trouble with her ankle.
Caroline Niski, a Maryland recruit, tried warming up Thursday but wasn't able to finish. Once again Szarmach provided a big lift in her place with 7 kills.
"Right now for me it is definitely sad but I know it is my responsibility to take over for her because she's a senior," Meghan Niski said. "I really want to get her as far as we can go. I'm trying to do what she did on the court plus my job. I'm working really hard right now."
For much of the match, the senior Seidel was on the court with a freshman Barry and at least three and sometimes four sophomores.
"I saw Erienne get a little frustrated but she pulled herself right back out if it because she had the support right around her to do that," Kull said. "I think that was key. It's hard to have Caroline on the bench with that much experience but I think everybody else is stepping up and helping out. Every time we come into timeouts she's (Caroline) giving feedback."
Meghan Niski got the Saints off to a good start with 4 kills in Game 1, a game that was as much a story of the Dukes' miscues.
Zerante put away 11 of her match-high 19 kills in the first game, but that productivity was offset by York's 7 hitting and 4 service errors.
"I just wanted every ball," Zerante said. "I tried to go up and be as aggressive as I could."
The Dukes picked up their play in Game 2, leading almost the entire game. Zerante got more help from Caroline Rose and Morgan Semmelhack as the Dukes balanced their attack to force a deciding third game.
After a tight start in Game 3 with seven ties and five lead changes setting up a 10-10 tie, the Saints went on a 14-6 blitz to reach match point. Seidel had one stretch of four kills in six points as Bui's move paid off.
York coach Patty Iverson was disappointed in her team's blocking compared to the way the Dukes performed Tuesday against Geneva.
"We didn't play great volleyball," Iverson said. "We kind of got out of sync. We didn't block well and I think that hurt us the most."
Seidel added 5 blocks, Barry set 27 assists and Saints libero Maisey Mulvey had 13 digs.
"She (Zerante) was a great hitter, you could see the look in her face and tell how hard she was going to hit," said Mulvey, who survived a nasty collision with the back wall hustling after a ball. "I think we did a great job (in Game 3)."