Rosary uses its size advantage to dismantle St. Edward

Before Monday's Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division match with Rosary, the St. Edward girls volleyball team was honored for finishing third in the Class 2A state tournament last season.

That was certainly the highlight of the evening for the Green Wave.

Rosary came in from Aurora and made quick work of St Edward in 36 minutes, pummeling the Wave 25-12, 25-11 in conference action in Elgin.

"We lost our top eight kids from last season's and only have a couple kids back who played," said Green Wave coach Jaime Dovichi. "This is a rebuilding season. We have no height and Rosary has some tall kids who are very good at the net. This team just isn't ready to compete at the varsity level."

The Royals (9-8, 2-2) set the tone with dominance at the net at the beginning of the first game. With Amy Kus and Emily Weber collecting 3 kills each, Rosary jumped out to an 11-5 lead.

The young Green Wave responded with 3 straight points, 2 on kills by Kristi Knott to cut the Rosary deficit to 11-8. St. Edward couldn't get any closer. Eight consecutive Royal points, spearheaded by 2 kills from Breann Maryanski and a pair of aces from Brittany Sikora gave Rosary control and a commanding 19-8 advantage.

A kill from Kus gave Rosary Game 1.

The Royals used the same strategy in Game 2 as in Game 1 - utilizing a definite height advantage at the net. Getting 2 kills each from Amelia Wegman, Kus, Weber and Maryanski the Royals cruised to an early 14-2 lead.

St Edward managed to get within 9 at 19-10 on a kill by Knott but couldn't get any closer. A kill by Wegman gave the Royals the game and match.

Maryanski, Kus and Weber paced Rosary with 5 kills each. Wegman and Shannon Leahy had 4 kills apiece. Junior setter Lindsay Juriga collected 35 assists for the winners.

We have really been struggling as a team so this was a nice win," said Rosary coach Lisa Kaspar. "With St. Francis coming up Wednesday and the tough Waubonsie Valley tournament over this weekend, this was a good way to start the week. Our blocking was much improved and we hit the ball well. Everybody contributed. Hopefully, we turned the corner with this win."

Kristi Knott and Holly Knott paced the Green Wave (2-9, 0-1) with 3 kills each.