Girls volleyball: St. Charles North rallies past Cary-Grove for Schaumburg title

The St. Charles North girls volleyball team hit the gas at the right time to win the Schaumburg Invite on Saturday.

Cary-Grove led the third set of the championship match 20-18, but the Trojans were passed up when the North Stars floored it. St. Charles North took 7 of the final 10 points to complete a 25-13, 21-25, 25-21 victory.

"I think we got it in our mind that this is go time - this is when we have to push," St. Charles North outside hitter Katie Lanz said. "Everyone worked together and it was just great."

Lanz, a hard-swinging scorer committed to North Carolina-Wilmington, dotted the floor with 13 title-match kills, including one that ignited the decisive final 7-3 run.

Lanz had help. Senior Grace Lilly (8 kills) crushed an overpass for a 22-20 lead.

Junior Kyla Lannert won a 50-50 ball at the to stake the North Stars to a 23-20 advantage. She punctuated championship point with a spike courtesy of Lanz's back set.

North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said the difference down the stretch was her team's willingness to play defense consistently.

"The defense was slacking for a little bit, as was our serve-receive," Hawkins said. "And they were just aggressive offensively. They were doing a good job of exposing some of our weaknesses. I thought they did a really good job of utilizing their back-row attack. So when our defense stepped up and started digging some of those back-row attacks, it was going much better."

Not closing out winnable matches is a recurring theme for Cary-Grove (13-10), which won a three-set semifinal against St. Viator while the North Stars were sweeping Schaumburg 25-18, 25-9 in the other semi.

The Trojans were able to win the second set, helped by consistent scoring from junior Evynn Layshock and Sydney Csoka and the all-around play of sophomore setter Jenna Splitt, but they were unable to keep the North Stars at bay.

"That's just what our team has been lacking this season, finding a way to finish strong," Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis said. "We get caught and we start spinning a little bit. Championship teams, they know how to finish. Championship teams are like 'this is the time that we make exceptional plays, we take big swings and we play gutsy.' We got a little timid.

"I was super impressed, though, up until that point with our defense and our offense. We were really fighting and running some of the fastest offense that we've run all season. I thought we put up a good challenge, but at the end you want your big dogs to find a way to put a ball down and we just struggled there."

St. Viator (15-16) rebounded from the semifinal loss to take third place with a 25-23, 25-23 win over Schaumburg.

Junior outside hitter Vicky Gorny finished the day with 32 kills for the Lions, who went 3-2 at the invite. Senior middle Kate Nottoli contributed 19 kills and 7 blocks, junior setter Erin Aldana recorded 82 assists and senior libero Taylor Pfaller notched 7 aces in 30 serve attempts.

"It was definitely a good day," said St. Viator coach Charlie Curtin, exasperated after five matches. "I was proud of the girls for fighting and sticking with it, but we started down a lot. We were able to fight back. I mean, it's stressful. It's stressful coaching."

Schaumburg placed fourth in the tournament after a second-place finish in pool play. The Saxons have played better since the girls called a players-only meeting last week.

"Our last couple of practices and our last couple of games and (Saturday) we've played solid volleyball," second-year Schaumburg coach Tim Murphy said. "I tell them all the time it's not about the wins and the losses. You can play well and lose, and we've played good volleyball."

The Saxons were led by senior setter Michelle Candotti (69 assists, 4 aces), senior outside hitter Meghan Luecht (13 kills), junior opposite Alex Rojas (13 kills), senior outside hitter Natalie Asa (30 kills, 4 aces) and sophomore middle Jessie Saeriev (8 kills).

Grayslake Central won the fifth-place match over East Peoria 25-17, 27-25.

Grant outlasted Larkin for seventh place 25-13, 20-25, 25-18.