UEC divisions turn race from marathon to sprint

Trick question. When does a 2-0 start in conference equal about a 10-0 start a year ago?

Answer: When you are playing with the new Upstate Eight rules.

Split into two 7-team divisions, teams now play each other just once in their division.

That means at 2-0, and with wins over St. Charles East and St. Charles North, Batavia only has four conference division games left. And only one of those, Oct. 5 against Geneva, is against one of the teams expected to be in the race for the title.

The Bulldogs have mixed emotions about the change from a 14-game Western Sun schedule when teams played each other twice.

"It's good to see them twice but we get one shot and do your best," Batavia senior outside hitter Caitlin Piechota said. "I think we are doing good playing all these teams once because we know we won't have a second shot so it's all out this game."

Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said the new format allows her to keep some other opponents on the schedule.

"It's nice to play teams twice but in this conference it's kind of nice that we can still play Sycamore, Huntley and Glenbard South, programs like that," Trippi-Payne said. "We'll (Batavia and St. Charles East) probably see each other again playoff time."

With an 11-1 record, Batavia won't sneak up on anyone the rest of the way.

"We are definitely the underdogs in the conference," Piechota said. "Everyone came out and underestimated us. This is good. We are coming out strong and hoping to keep going."

Lefty firepower: Piechota, a Western Carolina recruit, said being left-handed helps her on the court.

"I think it does," Piechota said. "People don't see a lot of left-handed outsides and takes them longer to adjust."

Piechota led the Bulldogs with 8 kills against St. Charles East. They came from every corner of the court - from the back row, attacks when she wasn't fully balanced, taking a set with a difficult cross-court angle - whenever Piechota has a chance to hit the ball she generally hits as hard as she can. There's no safely hitting the ball over the net with her.

"I just think the more aggressive the better," Piechota said. "I try to hit every ball."

Saints bounce back: The loss to Batavia was the fourth in six matches for St. Charles East, an uncharacteristic stretch that left coach Jennie Kull's team at 12-5.

St. Charles East (13-5) rebounded Wednesday night with a win over Lockport.

"We had one of the best practices we've ever had (Monday before the Batavia loss) and then to come into a match like this today is really frustrating," Kull said Tuesday night. "We are just going to have to figure it out sooner than later. We have a bunch of really skilled players that have the ability to do some great things and our focus now is to make that happen. We have to keep learning what is going to make it work and how we can get ourselves back into our game and the way we play."

Good cause: St. Charles East teammates Erienne Barry and Meghan Niski found a way to give back to the community this summer that combined one of their great loves - volleyball - with their former school, St. Patrick.

The idea came from Barry's mother, Donna. She suggested Erienne and Meghan return to their elementary school and hold a volleyball clinic for students there. That's just what the two Saints did in June when they returned from playing in a national club tournament.

"It was so much fun," said Erienne Barry. "It was fun to teach them the game and give back."

About 20 girls participated from second through sixth grades. Both Barry and Niski attended grade school there, and Donna Barry works at St. Patrick.

The girls took the money raised and donated it to the Special Olympics. Niski said they taught the younger players all the various skills you need to play volleyball.

"It was good to go back to school and see everyone," Niski said. "It felt great not only spreading awareness about volleyball but helping girls and then helping Special Olympics too."

Injury woes: Just when Rosary coach Lisa Kasper thought her team was finally getting healthy, the Royals lost another player this week.

Emily Meyer and Abby Konovodoff returned to the lineup for Wednesday's win over St. Edward.

Unfortunately for the Royals, Jennifer Hewitt came to the game on crutches. Hewitt hurt herself in practice Monday and Kasper expects her back in about two weeks.

The Royals (8-2) also are playing without Amy Kus who is recovering from a torn ACL. Kus hopes to be back next month.

"We can't get over the injury bug," Kasper said.