Girls volleyball: St. Charles North, Benet advance to sectional final

St. Charles North didn’t come out of the gate the way it wanted to Tuesday.

In the first set of its Class 4A West Aurora sectional semifinal matchup against Metea Valley, the North Stars found themselves trailing 21-17.

Head coach Lindsey Hawkins decided to call a timeout to remind the team of what they needed to do to make sure they didn’t fall into a one-set deficit.

“I just told them that we were making a lot of our own errors and scoring points for them,” Hawkins said. “I just had to remind them that we’ve served aggressively and played great defense all season long, and we weren’t doing that. So they came out a little bit fired up and ready to go.”

Apparently, her players got the message.

The second-seeded North Stars went on to win eight of the next 10 points, and never trailed in the second set to secure a 25-23, 25-16 win over the third-seeded Mustangs.

The North Stars will go on to face Benet (37-1) in the sectional final, and will be looking to get their first win over the Redwings in three tries this season. The Redwings won their sectional semifinal over Wheaton Warrenville South in straight sets.

“We just need to stay really confident and just be really positive in that game,” North freshman middle Brynn Hopkins said. “We’ve got to not think like we’re already going to be losing, but just always pushing forward and helping everybody out.”

A part of North’s success to end the first set came from excellent net play. After allowing a spike from Metea’s Maddie Hopkins, the North Stars recorded three-straight blocks from Brynn Hopkins, sophomore Ellie Sutter and junior Haley Burgdorf to give them a 24-22 lead, their first since the early portion of the set.

“Coach Hawkins just told us to keep pressing and just keep being aggressive,” Hopkins said. “We just needed to keep reading that hitter’s shoulder, and we did that to stay aggressive.”

North (32-6) got another boost of momentum near the middle of the second set. After Metea Valley went on a 7-4 run to cut the North Stars’ lead to 12-10, a score board mishap caused a 10-minute delay. During that time, Hawkins did her best to remind her girls to stay mentally tough and not let the stoppage get in their head.

And once again, they delivered. The North Stars ended the match with a 13-6 run to close out the set and advance to the sectional finals.

“Right out of the stoppage, Metea scored a point and I was like ‘Oh boy, here we go,’” Hawkins said. “But we managed to respond, and I felt like they just went on a roll after that. They get really fired up when I get fired up, and it seems to ebb and flow off of each other, so it was good that they responded.”

Burgdorf once again lead the way for the North Stars in the kill category. The Penn State commit finished the match with 15 kills. Of those, 10 came in the second set, and six of them in the final streak.

“She’s just got a motor,” Hawkins said. “We’ll get out of practice and she’ll go do an extra workout. She’s got the work ethic and the heart that just gives her that X factor.”

For Metea Valley, its season ends with a 28-9 record. Despite not having their starting middle in Olivia Stewart, who was injured in their regional final win against Geneva, head coach David MacDonald said he was very proud of his girls for fighting, despite the multiple changes they made throughout the season.

“In the first set, we had a great game plan and we had it there, but we just had a couple of mistakes and that’s the attention to detail right now that is going to win or lose you a match at this point of the season,” MacDonald said. “But I’m just so proud of these girls. They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them and they never stopped fighting from Day 1.”

Benet d. Wheaton Warrenville South:

When you play next to one of the best liberos in the country, it’s easy to get overlooked.

Defensive specialist Morgan Asleson finds herself in that situation at Benet, where Purdue-bound Aniya Warren regularly wows crowds with her outstanding play.

But Asleson is not underappreciated.

“She doesn’t get overlooked in our gym,” Benet coach Brad Baker said. “We know how good she is.

“We realize how lucky we are to have her and she’s an outstanding player.”

Asleson demonstrated that Tuesday. The Dayton recruit led all players with 15 digs and 13 service points to lift the top-seeded Redwings to a 25-14, 25-14 victory over fifth-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South in the Class 4A West Aurora Sectional semifinal.

Benet (37-1) advances to play second-seeded St. Charles North (32-6) in the sectional final at 6 p.m. Thursday.

After WW South (24-13) grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the first set, a Tigers error gave the serve to Asleson, who ripped off 10 consecutive points. She capped the run with an ace to give the Redwings a 12-4 cushion.

“Morgan is very precise on her serves and very consistent, so that really helps us,” Benet middle hitter Gabby Stasys said. “I think all our serving was really good today, but Morgan got that good run for us and then after that we kind of had a steady match the rest of the time.”

Such long serving streaks are rarely seen in sectional matches, but Asleson would not take all the credit.

“I just knew where it was working best to get them out of system and I think we defended the serve well when it came back to us,” Asleson said. “So we were able to keep building momentum off of every point.”

Baker agreed.

“You got to have a whole team to do that,” Baker said. “You got to have the defense playing well, you’ve got to be able to block well.

“And obviously at this point everyone kind of knows who you want to serve (to), and she was doing a good job of that also.”

Asleson doesn’t wasted time when serving.

“I try to do it fast and try to float it and keep it low,” Asleson said. “Sometimes we go back and hit like a 50-50 serve so it looks like it’s going, but then it kind of drops.”

Asleson’s serving was contagious as the Redwings held a 6-2 edge in aces over the Tigers.

“We practiced the tough serving, for sure, but I also think a big thing was kind of just the nerves of the game,” WW South right-side hitter Lauren Coyne said. “We’ve seen Benet before and we prepared well enough.

“There were things, unfortunately, that were left out on the table, but they’re a really good team.”

Coyne, Cate Cassin and Zoe Dragas all had three kills to lead the Tigers, who were competitive early in the second set.

But Stasys, who led all players with eight kills, broke a 6-all tie with a block and Warren followed with an ace as Benet used an 8-2 run to pull away.

Middle hitter Lynney Tarnow had six kills and two blocks for Benet, which also got five kills from Brooklynne Brass and three kills and 21 assists from setter Audrey Asleson.

“We feel good,” Morgan Asleson said. “Every game we keep getting more and more momentum and excitement.”

– - Matt LeCren, Shaw Local