Saints drop 3 tight matches at Prairie Ridge Invitational
Rebecca Heath was fatigued mentally and physically.
But, the exhaustion didn't seem to bother the Naperville Central senior outside hitter.
Heath, who was able to fight through a knee injury, helped lead the Redhawks to a perfect 5-0 mark and the championship at Saturday's Prairie Ridge Invitational held in Crystal Lake.
"It is a long day," said Heath. "We play 5 matches in a row against great teams. But, coach (Brie Isaacson) runs us a lot in practice and we are in great condition."
Heath blasted 15 kills with 4 aces as the Redhawks (7-2) completed its perfect day with a 25-20, 25-15 over Barrington.
"Rebecca leads by example and she pushed herself through the knee injury," said Isaacson. "She really did a great job of staying focused."
Naperville Central, which lost only 1 game all day, knocked off Cary-Grove 25-17, 8-25, 25-21 followed by wins over Prairie Ridge (25-22, 25-14), St. Charles East (25-20, 29-27) and Fenwick (25-9, 25-14).
"It was good to play all these matches today against great competition because we are going to have play 2 matches some nights in postseason," said Isaacson. "This will get us used to that. This tournament was good because we were able to find a lineup. We continue to get better and I am encouraged by that."
Both PR and Cary-Grove finished 3-2 but C-G finished second because it won 8 games compared to 6 for the Wolves.
After losing their first 2 matches to Naperville Central and Fenwick (25-21, 15-25, 20-25), the Trojans defeated Prairie Ridge for the second time this week.
Cary-Grove knocked off the Wolves 25-23, 25-12.
Allison Straumann paced the Trojans with 8 kills and 3 aces.
Cary-Grove (11-3) ended the day with wins over Barrington (25-16, 25-19) and St. Charles East (23-25, 26-24, 25-21).
"We have played 13 matches in 7 days and these girls are burning fumes," said Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis. "We did a great job all day of holding our composure. Dropping our first 2 matches, I am excited that we came back to win 3 straight matches."
The highlight of the day for PR (6-3) was a 15-25, 25-22, 25-21 victory over St. Charles East. Ashley Doherty delivered 7 kills in the victory over the Saints.
The Wolves also defeated Barrington 25-17, 23-25, 25-21 and Fenwick 25-14, 25-20.
"We were playing timid against St. Charles East so I changed the lineup and put a more aggressive lineup in there," said Prairie Ridge coach Stefanie Otto. "We played with less tentativeness and were more aggressive. We were up and down all day and were inconsistent. But, I thought our team chemistry was good all day."
St. Charles East invaded Crystal Lake with a lofty 8-1 mark but finished 2-3 to finish fourth.
The Saints (10-4), who posted wins against Fenwick (25-22, 17-25, 25-20) and Barrington (25-21, 25-13), dropped their final 3 matches of the day. The Saints dropped a tough 20-25, 27-29 decision to Naperville Central before losing 3-game matches to Prairie Ridge and Cary-Grove.
In a losing cause against Cary-Grove, Haley Streich had 14 kills for the Saints.
"I am not really that disappointed because we were in position to win all 3 matches we lost," said St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull. "We just need to finish and win those matches. All 5 teams we played were very good. We can learn from this."