Girls volleyball: St. Charles North rallies to knock off Saints
St. Charles North girls volleyball coach Lindsay Hawkins was pleased to see a frenzied crowd awaiting the start of her team's rivalry match against St. Charles East Tuesday night.
"Win or lose, it was nice to see the stands packed again," said Hawkins. "Alumni were here. It was just nice that everybody could be a part of it. It's always a fun atmosphere."
Even more so when you come away with the win.
After dropping the opening set, the North Stars (14-8, 3-2) rallied for a 19-25, 25-22, 25-21 DuKane Conference victory over the host Saints (11-10, 2-3).
The Saints dominated the first set, capitalizing on some North errors while recording 6 aces, 2 each from Taylor Swanson and Loryana Luke.
"It was one of those things where we needed to learn from the mistakes we were making in the first set," said Hawkins.
Learn they did.
After a back and forth second set, the North Stars finally grabbed the lead for good at 20-19 on a kill from sophomore Alex Bardouniotis (10 kills, 2 blocks) and forced the decisive third set following an East service error.
St. Charles North opened a 16-11 lead in the third set after a middle kill from Marissa Guajardo (6 kills, 2 blocks) before the Saints scored 5 of the next 6 points, pulling within 17-16 following back-to-back North Stars hitting miscues.
After a North timeout, Bardouniotis responded with a kill, and moments later, senior Mia Dela Merced executed a perfect tip kill to extend the North Stars' lead to 21-18.
"My swings weren't working toward that end," said Merced, who finished with a match-high 14 kills. "I swung at most every ball, so I put it aside and thought, 'let's see how this works.'"
St. Charles East trimmed the deficit to 22-21 following 3 straight kills by junior Alexis Crossen (11 kills, 3 blocks) before Dela Merced went back to work, orchestrating back-to-back-to-back kills of her own to end the match and send the North Stars' fans into delirium.
"We all had that momentum and that big drive that we wanted to win," said Dela Merced. "I wanted to finish it for my team."
"She's kind of the heart and soul of our team," said Hawkins. "To see her rise to the challenge at the end and kind of carry her team - that was exciting."
The North Stars also received contributions from Jessica Parker (28 assists, 6 digs), Kayla Davern (5 kills, 3 digs), Karen Lu (9 digs), Karlie Custer (8 digs) and Maddy Hyde (3 assists, 3 digs).
Lia Schneider (9 digs, 3 assists), Isabella Mosquera (4 kills, 8 blocks, 6 digs), Kate Goudreau (6 kills) and Amalia Lopez (2 aces, 2 digs) supported the Saints' cause.
"Inexperience," Saints coach Jennie Kull said while summing up the match. "We've gotten better but we still have some strides to make.
"I'm not disappointed - I think it's going to help us grow. It's one more step to getting us where we need to be by the end of the season."