Redwings claim a convincing win

What will it take to beat Benet? Colleen Reagan has an idea.

"Someone's going to have to play perfect," Downers Grove South's coach said. "The errors they make, you're going to have to capitalize."

Unfortunately for Reagan's Mustangs, they were far from perfect on Tuesday night. Benet had a lot to do with it.

The No. 1 Redwings rolled into the final of the Class 4A Downers Grove South sectional with a convincing 25-13, 25-18 in front of a crowd of well more than 2,000.

"That loss to Joliet Catholic a couple weeks ago was kind of our wakeup call," Benet senior Natalie Patzin said. "We learned from that. We now know what it feels like to lose. We don't want to feel that way again."

Downers Grove South (29-9) took Benet to three games in a regular-season match in Lisle. The Mustangs didn't mount nearly the same fight in the rematch after early Downers Grove South leads in both games.

"We didn't play well," Reagan said. "We knew we had to play good and we couldn't even pass. It just wasn't meant to be. We leave here tonight with some regrets because we didn't play our best volleyball."

Downers Grove South led 5-2 in Game 1 on a pair of kills by Kelsey Safranek, a Mo Oestermeyer kill and Katherine Gosewisch block. Benet (37-1) got a point back on the first of Patzin's 8 kills, and a Jessica Jendryk ace started a string of five points on Jendryk's powerful jump serve.

"We fed off the crowd," Jendryk said, "and took it one point at a time. I went for an ace, and that's what I got."

"You have to play all 25 points," Benet coach Brad Baker said, "not just the first five. We were able to."

Benet led 13-10, then finished with a 12-3 flourish as Downers Grove South's passing broke down.

The Mustangs grabbed an early 4-1 lead in Game 2, and it was still anyone's game at 10-10. But Ariana Mankus sparked a 9-1 Redwings run with one of her 9 kills, and added another to make it 13-11. Three Gina Finke aces in succession and two fierce Jendryk kills followed by a Mankus smash made it 19-11. It was academic after that. The Redwings' serve receive was also stellar, giving up just one ace.

"This time of year, that's what separates who moves on and who doesn't, is who can go on runs," Baker said. "We were able to do that in both games."

Courtney Gosewisch had 5 kills and 8 digs, Oestermeyer 4 kills and 6 assists and Safranek 4 kills for Downers Grove South.

Jendryk had 5 kills and Brianne Hucek 39 assists for Benet, who will play Naperville Central on Thursday for the school's first sectional championship.

"Our dream is continuing," Patzin said. "We're just going to take it one game at a time."