Girls volleyball: St. Charles North’s Mikos, who steps into shoes left by Penn State’s Haley Burgdorf, overpowers Batavia

Over the years, junior outside hitter Mya Mikos prepared herself to be ready for the moment that she would be starting for St Charles North.

Being a player in a high-powered program that had two college recruits playing her position forced Mikos into learning mode. Her time in club gave her the on-the-court work she needed to be ready.

“Last year, I was practicing the same position knowing I was going to play this year,” Mikos said of being behind Haley Burgdorf, the Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year, and Amber Czerniak.

“I really just tried to put everything out there because I have to step up.”

Mikos delivered a signature performance Tuesday night in a 25-17, 19-25, 25-23 DuKane Conference win at Batavia. She put down a match-high 13 kills as the North Stars hung on.

Brooke Reinke added nine kills as St. Charles North (10-8, 3-0) played without injured senior outside Ellie Sutter. Brynn Hopkins chipped in with six kills and Maddy Lewis had four kills.

Morgan Raiser paced Batavia (12-7, 2-1) with 10 kills. Amber Gabris and Sophie Wojtkiewicz added five kills apiece.

Mikos received plenty of tips for her new role from Burgdorf — who’s starring for nationally ranked Penn State and was recently named the Big Ten’s freshman of the week — and Czerniak, who’s playing for Tiffin.

“I like how they handled their mistakes,” Mikos said. “They just shook it off and moved on. It helped them stay confident and stay aggressive. It really helped us win matches.”

Mikos, who has been trying to carry that into this season, has turned into a steady contributor.

She’s third on the team in kills behind Hopkins and Sutter.

“She was on the team last year just learning from Haley and Amber,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “In the first set, you saw she was wiping off the block a lot and scoring points that way. She’s just a very consistent player.

“We’ve been waiting for her to kind of come into her own and have her time to shine, and I thought she did that.”

Mikos got started early Tuesday with five kills as the North Stars built a 16-10 lead in the first game. Her seventh kill ended that win. It looked like more of the same at the start of the second.

Two more kills by Mikos helped open an 11-5 lead. As has been the case this fall with a relatively inexperienced team, though, St. Charles North coughed up the lead with a series of miscues.

“It’s been happening a lot lately,” Mikos said. “We have so many errors. We have to find a way to push through because it’s going to really matter later in the season when the teams are tougher.”

Batavia pulled away in the second game and rallied to stay alive in the third. Raiser got hot with four kills as the Bulldogs turned a 13-12 deficit into a 22-19 lead.

The North Stars outscored Batavia 6-1 from there to end it, however.

“It’s tough because we beat a really good Oswego team,” Batavia coach Tom Barry said of Monday’s win. “I’m not disappointed about this because even though we weren’t at our best, at no point did we stop.”

Berry knows that St. Charles North’s program finds a way to replace star players year after year.

“That’s a testament to Lindsey,” Berry said. “She’s put a phenomenal program together. It takes a lot to be able to maintain that over the amount of time she’s done it.”

Part of that comes from the faith she shows in players like Mikos.

“I really like how she believe in me,” Mikos said. “It really makes me want to play better, prove that even though I didn’t play last year that I should be starting.”