St. Charles E. tops St. Charles N.
With all the hugs, all the money raised for a good cause, all the smiles and photos together between the St. Charles East and St. Charles North girls volleyball teams Tuesday night, it didn’t seem like anyone much cared who won or lost.
And that seemed fine with everyone on St. Charles North’s third annual Volley for a Cure.
“It’s friends and friends,” Saints coach Jennie Kull said. “The beauty of this game in this town right now is it really is friends vs. friends. That makes it a little more fun because they really do care about each other. It’s a different kind of game to coach, it’s a different kind of game to watch. I was proud of both sides.”
For all the feel-good components to the night, North did turn on its scoreboard, and the visitors stayed red hot. The Saints trailed just briefly in the second game of a 25-16, 25-18 victory that clinched a share of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title.
Yet, that didn’t ruin the night for the hosts, either.
“Volley for the Cure is always such a great cause,” said St. Charles North outside Lauren Madziarczyk. “It’s like a friendly game as much as it is we have to beat the other team.”
No player stood out Tuesday like the Saints’ four-year starter Meghan Niski who put away 15 kills and added 6 digs in what will be her final match against the North Stars unless the teams meet in the postseason.
“She’s just a good hitter. She’s just a fantastic player,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “She can go up against the best of girls and she’s going to get her kills. She’s still going to be one of the most dominant players probably one of the most dominant players in the state. I love watching her play. I hate playing against her but I love her to death at the end of the day.”
St. Charles East (20-3, 5-0) can win the conference outright Oct. 18 against Streamwood, though with seven straight wins and a senior-dominated team, the Saints have much bigger goals ahead than winning the UEC River.
“Of course it’s a great accomplishment and I’m really proud of that,” Kull said. “But I guess our thing is each match is so important. At this point it’s how we played this match. Of course I’m proud of them for winning conference but that’s not our focus.”
The North Stars (12-8, 4-2) stayed tied with the Saints three times early in Game 1 before Erienne Barry (25 assists) set Nicole Woods for a kill and the lead for good at 6-5.
Hawkins took timeout trailing 14-8 but the North Stars never got within 5 points. The Saints closed the game with a typical point from the past few years — Maisey Mulvey (10 digs) with a perfect pass from the back row up to Barry who set Nichole Lambert in the middle for point No. 25.
Niski finished with 8 kills in the opening game.
“She was on tonight,” Barry said. “She’s really good. I trust anyone with the ball, definitely want to feature hot players but everyone was on tonight.
“I don’t know how she does it sometimes. It’s Meghan Niski is basically what it is.”
The North Stars led briefly in Game 2, the final time at 4-3 on a Jill Stolzenburg ace. With Stephanie Camper serving the Saints scored four straight points, going ahead 8-5 and never looking back.
With eight straight wins, St. Charles East is clicking heading into the talent-filled Mizuno Cup this weekend at Great Lakes.
“Our practices are just like our games,” Barry said. “Every time we practice it seems like we get better which is really good. We are peaking at the right time, we are going up right now.”
Taylor Krage and Madziarczyk led the North Stars with 6 and 5 kills, respectively. Emily Belz tallied 9 assists and Renee Rhoades and Alex Busch had 5 digs each.
“We just did not show up again,” Hawkins said. “It’s been the story of our season. We go up and down. We haven’t shown up when it really matters lately. I felt East was really good at taking us out of our game.”