St. Charles East knocks off Libertyville for 3rd in 4A
NORMAL -- Two girls volleyball teams most observers gave little shot of making it to Redbird Arena took shots at each other Saturday evening in the Class 4A consolation match.
St. Charles East left the floor winners in the final match of the year for both teams, defeating a feisty, hustling Libertyville squad 25-19, 25-15 to secure a third-place finish, one of the finest in school history.
As the former St. Charles High School, the Saints won a Class AA state title in 2001, finished second in 1985 and fourth in 1986.
"It's amazing," Saints coach Jennie Kull said of her team's miraculous postseason run. "I can't believe what an awesome season this has been. There's only a few teams that can say that they go out with a win, and that's what our focus was. We have seven seniors. They've led this young team, they've made a lot of sacrifices and this team did it for them."
One of those seniors, outside hitter Mattie Boyd, led the Saints with 8 kills in 15 attacks. Another, 6-foot middle hitter Courtney Sjostrom, added 5 while junior Haley Streich recorded 7 kills.
Senior libero Alex Coello defended the back row in her final match with 8 digs.
"I think the nerves were totally gone tonight and I think that's why the passes were awesome again and the sets were on tonight and the defense kept getting the ball up. Being on a team that was having so much fun, it' a lot easier because there's not as much pressure."
The combined effort of the Saints (29-13) was enough to overpower the Wildcats (34-8), who defeated Maine South at the Hersey supersectional to advance further than any team in Libertyville history.
"It's a great experience," Libertyville senior middle Ali Haws said of qualifying for the Final Four. "I think the worst part of this weekend is just that it's the last time that I'm going to play with this group of girls. I'm proud of everything we accomplished and I'm so proud that we got this far and played so well."
Libertyville was paced by 6 kills from Haws, 8 digs from senior defender Jenny Caren and 13 assists by senior setter Erin DeMarco.
St. Charles East turned a 9-7 lead into a 12-7 advantage in Game 1 via a Sjostrom kill and back-to-back hitting errors by the Wildcats. The Saints later led 20-14 when junior setter Laura Homann tipped a ball at the net for a point and Sjostrom and Caroline Niski (4 kills) followed with winners to bulge the lead to 9 points.
St. Charles East burst to leads of 7-2 and 12-4 in Game 2 on the strength of superior play at the net and unrelenting defense, but the Wildcats used a 6-3 surge to cut the deficit to 15-10. Kills by senior outside hitter Leigha Bystol and DeMarco aided Libertyville's cause in combination with three St. Charles East hitting errors .
But the Saints finished strong and took the third-place trophy when Haws couldn't tip a low set over the net at match point.
However, two losses in Normal did nothing to lessen the Wildcats' appreciation of a magical season.
"When we go back and look at everything we've done this season we can't help but to say, 'Oh my goodness.'" Libertyville coach Chris Trzyna said. "When we started back in August would we have thought we would ever be sitting here at the state tournament and be bringing home a trophy? I don't think that was on any of our minds at that point in time.
"As our season went everything started to click, everything started to happen. Sure, we wanted to be state champs, but the fact that we're here and other teams aren't, we're very proud of our fourth place."