Girls volleyball: IC Catholic Prep holds serve against Lisle

There were plenty of reasons for the IC Catholic Prep volleyball team to smile after Tuesday's season opener, but the biggest one was that at least one player took the coach's words to heart.

Knights coach Nancy Kerrigan joked after her team's 25-8, 25-16 victory at Lisle that it was nice to see somebody listen to her request that she'd appreciate it if someone could hold serve a bit against the host Lions (0-1). That somebody was junior defensive specialist Morgan Benson, who rifled off 12 straight service points in the first game to turn an 11-6 lead into an insurmountable 23-6 lead on way to breezing through the first set of the new season.

"I was thrilled," Kerrigan said of the run, which featured 5 aces by Benson. "When Morgan stepped up to the line … I think in the previous timeout I said one thing we can do better is hold our serve. She may have been the next server after that, so somebody listened. It was nice."

For Benson and her teammates it was indeed a nice way to start off the season.

"I felt really confident in my serves. It was good," said Benson, who finished with 8 aces. "When that happens you get a lot of energy and it's fun. We did well. We worked together and had a lot of energy."

For a young Lions team and new coach Jamie Buhnerkemper, ICCP proved to be a tough team to start things off against. That said, Lisle made strides in the second game as sophomore Zoe Sharafinski stepped in to provide a boost to the passing attack as the hosts made the Knights work much harder after the opener.

"This is a good program for us to have to start with," Buhnerkemper said of facing the Knights, who were led by strong serving throughout and by the hard attack of outside hitter Jess Sobon, who had a match-high 11 kills. "Definitely serve receive took us out of our game the first game. In our second set Zoe got in there and stepped in well for a sophomore."

Lions setter Kaitlyn Angileri paced her team with 5 kills, including a pair of attacks late in the match before Knights sophomore Claire Wagner closed the night with her seventh kill of the evening.

Sobon, a junior who picked up plenty of varsity experience in 2018, felt ICCP played well for an opener, especially Benson's effort at the service line.

"I feel like our serve receive was really good, and we come back to the basics as in passing and then run a good offense," Sobon said. "Morgan did a lot of good serves and when that happens It helps us a lot. It makes us more relaxed I guess."