Girls volleyball: Harvest Christian sweeps St. Edward for 9th straight regional

St. Edward appeared to have finally solved Harvest Christian Academy in the first set of the Class 2A Marian Central Catholic regional title match Thursday night in Woodstock.

The championship contest was the third meeting between the two squads this season with Harvest Christian winning both prior matches.

The Green Wave led 21-16 when Lions coach Mike Bui called timeout.

The brief break in the action recharged Harvest Christian, which then went on a 9-2 run to win the set, 25-22. The Lions' momentum continued into the second game which they won 25-17 to take the match and earn a regional crown for the ninth straight time.

Harvest Christian (26-10) advances to the Genoa-Kingston sectional to play for its ninth sectional title in a row. The Lions face Montini, winner of the Lisle regionaI, in the second semifinal match on Monday.

"St. Ed's came out and played well in the first set," said Bui. "We just had to weather the storm a little bit. We played them twice earlier this season, beat they pretty easy so we knew they were ready for this match."

"We did a great job (in the first set). Our passing was excellent. Our service receive was really, really good," St. Edward coach Rich Panitch said. "We put up blocks that forced them to get a little bit out of their comfort zone. We just got caught in a bad rotation for the last 5 or 6 points that we couldn't get out of."

Hayley Martin led Harvest Christian's late rally in the first game. The sophomore outside hitter totaled five of her match-high 13 kills during the run, including strikes that put the Lions ahead for only the second time in the set, 23-22, and set point.

"Hayley had a great match. She took over in game one for us," Bui said. "Without her, I don't know if we would have won that set."

Martin's first kill gave the Lions an early 2-1 in the first game. St. Edward (17-16) capitalized on Harvest Christian service and hitting errors to build the lead and led by as much six points at different times but were unable to pull away.

"I think we came into it too easy," said Martin. "But when we noticed that it wasn't going to be that easy we had to change things and play more aggressive."

St. Edward jumped out to any early lead in the second set. The Lions quickly took over, tying the match at 5-5 on a Green Wave service error and pulled in front for good, 6-5, on a Maya Jenkins (11 kills, 13 digs) smash.

Zoe Pawalek recorded 24 assists for the Lions.

Anna Draftz led St. Edward's attack with 4 kills.