Girls volleyball: St. Charles East downs Geneva for regional crown
When your girls volleyball team has captured 15 regional championships in 19 years - including a stretch of 9 straight titles from 2006-2014 - going 2 consecutive seasons without a regional crown qualifies as a dry spell of sorts.
St. Charles East (30-7) put an emphatic end to that "losing" streak Thursday night, defeating neighborhood rival Geneva 25-18, 25-16 in the Class 4A regional title match on the Saints' home floor.
The Saints will face Huntley (26-7) in Monday's 6:30 p.m. DeKalb sectional semifinals.
"It was a long time," said Saints coach Jennie Kull, who guided St. Charles East to state titles in 2001 and 2008. "There were a lot of alumni happy for this day to be here. They're all on the sidelines cheering and really proud of this group."
That group included seniors Hannah Spicer (9 kills, 2 blocks), Klaudia Sowizral (6 kills, 3 digs), Kyra Slavik (6 kills, 6 digs), Ally Will (4 blocks), Charlie Ambrose (3 digs, ace), Anna Skyrd (1 dig, 1 assist), and juniors McKenna Slavik (19 assists, 3 kills) and Kirsten Rogers (2 kills).
"My seniors did well," said Kull. "This was their last time playing on this court and they knew that."
Spicer, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, helped set the tone with 3 early kills as the Saints jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first game.
The lead grew to 12-5, 16-6 and 18-8 as the Saints came out hungry.
"That's what we've been focusing on this entire year - maintaining a good level of energy while keeping our cool at the same time," said Spicer.
"Hannah got us going right away," said Kull. "She had by far one of the best games I've ever seen her play."
Geneva (21-16) staged a late rally in the opening game, pulling to within 5 at 23-18 before a Sowizral kill and Vikings' hitting error helped the Saints take the first set.
"I think we came out and played a little tense," said Geneva coach Annie Seitelman. "We made some errors early on and kind of dug ourselves a hole."
An ace by Ambrose ignited a 5-0 run that gave the Saints a 12-4 lead in the second game.
Led by seniors Molly Lambillotte (7 kills, 11 digs) and Danielle Thompson (7 kills), the Vikings closed the deficit to 5 at 16-11 and again at 20-15 before the Saints scored 5 of the next 6 points to seal the decision.
One of the longest points of the night came at 17-12 when Skyrd's sensational dig led to a block by Will.
"Tonight, we had that drive and determination to not let a ball drop," said Skyrd. "Our blocking was phenomenal. Since sophomore year, we promised Coach Kull that we were going to get to that regional final and we were going to win it no matter what it took."
Anna Loberg and Piper Drazek added 9 and 8 assists, respectively, for Geneva.
"Twenty-five points goes by fast when you don't start out in rhythm and it takes those first 10 points to get your groove going," said Seitelman. "We were fighting the whole time."