Practice pays off for St. Charles East in win over Barrington
Only at a program at the level of St. Charles East volleyball does one loss make it a "hard week," but that's how the Saints felt about themselves after losing to St. Francis last Saturday at the Early Bird Invitational.
Barrington got a look at just how much the Saints learned from that loss during St. Charles East's 25-19, 25-8 victory Thursday night.
Better ball control, running more options on offense, talking more and having more fun on the court - the Saints (10-1) improved on everything coach Jennie Kull stressed this week in practice.
"We really meshed well because coming off last week was a hard week," said Saints junior outside hitter Meghan Niski, who pounded 9 of her game-high 13 kills in Game 1. "Today I think we really stepped it up and played hard.
"That (St. Francis) was a hard loss for us. We are working really hard in practice to get better. They (St. Francis) are a great team but mentally we didn't put up a battle. Tonight we played really well."
That started almost immediately. A Saints serving error on the opening point gave Barrington what turned out to be its only lead in either game.
By the time Erienne Barry lofted a ball that Niski skied to put away on the outside six points later, the Saints held a 4-3 lead they never relinquished.
"We have been working on trying to communicate better and having more fun and I think we really showed that tonight," said Barry, who set 16 assists in Game 1 and then found holes herself in Barrington's defense with 3 tip kills in Game 2.
Barrington committed 6 hitting errors in Game 1 and also had trouble at times with the Saints serve. Stephanie Camper and Sam Szarmach both had aces in the first game and Szarmach fired another in Game 2 with Barry adding two more.
Barry and Niski teamed up for the final point of Game 1.
"We really did the things we had been working on in practice," said Saints coach Jennie Kull. "We looked at some tape after the St. Francis match and got down to some things we need to do. From that match we learned a great deal and were able to execute a lot better today."
The Saints broke open Game 2 with an 10-1 run that turned a 3-3 tie into a 13-4 lead. Szarmach was serving during that spurt, then Barry stepped to the line moments later and rattled off 7 straight points that made it 22-7.
Kull also worked her bench in Game 2 with Allison Manley delivering a kill for a 23-7 lead. The Saints ended the night on another Barry assist, this one to Nicole Lambert.
"Our kids came in off the bench and really stepped up," Kull said of a group that included Manley, Nicole Woods, Kathleen Dailey and Sarah Dugan. "It was a total team effort, every single kid did something well today. I was really impressed."
Peyton Lang (4 kills), Mallory Combs (2 kills), Madison Lang (8 assists), Amanda Dee (9 digs) and Meagan Combs (6 digs) led Barrington (2-4).
"Tonight was frustrating because we knew we were playing a team better than us and the only way we had a chance to beat them was if we outworked them," Barrington coach Christopher Bronke said. "And we didn't. St. Charles East was better than us physically and worked harder than us by about a factor of 10."