Green Wave thinks pink

The Green Wave took on an entirely different tint Monday.

The girls volleyball teams from St. Edward and visiting Marian Central kicked off National Breast Cancer Awareness month with a show of solidarity designed to promote awareness of the disease, specifically among younger women.

An educational fact sheet handed out at the entrance noted that approximately 10,000 women under the age of 40 will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, 1,000 of them between 20-30 years of age.

Awareness being the point of the evening, the Green Wave became the Pink Wave for the night, donning special pink jerseys; the Hurricanes wore white shirts with pink numbers.

The programs were pink, pink balloons were tethered to the team benches, administrators wore pink shirts and the fans were mostly dressed in -- what else? -- pink after having purchased pink "Volley for the Cure" tee shirts to raise money for breast cancer research. Money was also raised via a raffle.

"It was a good first night," said St. Edward coach Jaime Walton, a native of Ohio, where most high school volleyball teams statewide participate annually in the fund-raising event.

It wasn't as great a night on the court for St. Edward, however. This night belonged to the Hurricanes, who swept their Suburban Catholic Conference hosts 25-16, 25-15, thanks to superior firepower.

Marian Central (17-4, 7-3) relied on the natural athletic ability of hitters Kimberlee Bulaga (7 kills) and Katilin Thomspson (5 kills) to overpower the Wave at the net. Meanwhile, the 'Canes' tough serving (6 aces) kept the St. Edward offense from ever getting on track.

"We did not play up to the competition at all," said St. Edward junior Kristen Haggenjos. "We struggled to pass the ball tonight, and when we can't pass we can't get going."

Marian jumped to an 8-1 lead in Game 1, a run capped by a Thompson ace, and was never challenged due to ineffective receives of serve by the Wave. Central setter Erin Brocker delivered 3 straight aces to increase the lead to 23-13, forcing St. Edward (8-13, 5-5) to call timeout.

Game 2 was more competitive. The Hurricanes took a 10-6 lead, but the Green Wave caught them at 12-12, a run fueled by back-to-back blasts for points off the swing of Haggenjos. Tess Barry tied the match by ricocheting a kill off Thompson's attempted block out of bounds.

But the Hurricanes won 13 of the last 16 points to end any suspense.

"We've struggled with our serve-receive against the tougher teams," Walton said. "When you do that you end up playing catch up instead of gaining continuity."