Girls volleyball: St. Charles East wins wild one over St. Charles North
After the third set between St. Charles East and St. Charles North's volleyball teams featured 17 ties and five lead changes, something had to give.
That's when 5-foot-11 junior middle Anita Prybell came up big, tying the match at 22-22 with a block and adding a kill and another block on set point, enabling the Saints (10-5, 3-1) to outlast the visiting North Stars (9-11, 2-2), 24-26, 25-22, 25-22 Tuesday night in DuKane Conference action.
Prybell, who contributed a pair of blocks and 2 digs, recorded 5 of her 7 kills in the decisive third set.
"I got off to a little bit of a slow start," said Prybell. "We just said, 'this is our North game.' We knew it was probably going to be a tough match because (St. Charles) North played very well against Geneva but I don't think I ever could have imagined the outcome tonight."
Things didn't begin so promising for the Saints, who let a 22-21 slip away in the opening set as the North Stars used a balanced attack from Kyla Lannert, Ally Warburton, Mia Dela Merced and Lauren Ringness to pull out the 2-point victory.
"North played great," said Saints coach Jennie Kull, whose team knocked off its cross-town rival for the first time since 2016. "That's the best I've seen them play this season."
In the second set, the Saints used 7 straight service points, including an ace, from senior Jessica Garland (13 digs) to open a 20-13 lead en route to their 3-point triumph, setting up an epic winner-take-all final set.
A block from senior Amarion Isbell (4 kills, 4 blocks) gave the Saints a brief 12-11 lead, only to have the score tied 11 additional times - and watch the North Stars grab a slim 1-point advantage on 10 different occasions, setting the stage for a frenzied finish.
"We knew that we needed North to get out of that point by point rally," said Saints junior setter Nina Scoliere, who finished with 23 assists, 16 digs and 7 kills. "We knew we needed to get that lead and once we got it we knew we needed to stay with it.
"We knew we had to push in the last game. The team came together and it was really awesome to see that."
Junior Skyler Misch led the Saints with 11 kills, supported by seniors Rachel Sheehan (5 kills, 4 blocks), Lauren Pondel (17 digs, 5 assists), Emily Stallman (12 digs, 3 assists), and freshman Kate Goudreau (4 kills).
"I'm not happy with the way that we played," said Kull. "I think that we let our emotions get us again. We've got to find a way to deal with that but I'm happy that we were able to pull it out."
Lannert (14 assists) and Warburton paced the North Stars with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while Olivia Walters had 21 assists.
"You've got to give credit to East because they made a few more plays than we did," said North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins. "It's still very positive. That was some of the best defense we've played all year.
"Offensively, we're getting better and learning what to do with the ball, especially in tight situations."