St. Charles North nips Glenbard West
Taylor Krage is not ready to bid goodbye to her senior friends.
St. Charles North’s sophomore outside hitter put down 17 kills, including match point, and the No. 6 seed North Stars fought off two match points to outlast No. 3 Glenbard West 25-22, 24-26, 26-24 in the Class 4A Bartlett regional final.
“I’m playing for them,” Krage said. “I still have two more years. I’m playing for all of them. It’s a great win.”
St. Charles North (24-11), which won its sixth regional title over the last eight years, advances to meet rival St. Charles East at next Tuesday’s sectional at St. Charles East.
The North Stars will need the long weekend off after the battle Glenbard West put them through.
“Oh my God,” exhaled North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins, “it seemed like every point was a long rally. They had some really great defense. We hit balls that we thought would go down but they were so, so tough.”
Glenbard West (31-6), seeking its first regional crown since 1985, seemed on the precipice of doing just that. A tip kill by Amanda Perry, her 10th, nudged the Hilltoppers ahead 23-21 and they got to match point at 24-22.
An ensuing rally that seemed like an eternity, like many others, finally climaxed with a dump kill by St. Charles North setter Emily Belz. Two more Krage kills finally finished Glenbard West.
“You just gotta keep going, assume nothing’s going to hit the ground,” Krage said, “and play to the whistle.”
“We were 4-0 in championship matches this year, and we thought that would be the little bit of an edge,” Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said. “I thought we played our hearts out to the end. We just fell short — what are you going to do?”
Lauren Madziarczyk had 11 kills — 5 in the third set — and fellow senior captain Kim Juriga 9 kills. The North Stars came back from a 17-14 deficit in the first set and 17-12 in the second set to nearly win it in two, then climbed out of a 16-12 hole in the third.
“It was my seniors,” Hawkins said. “They said we were not going home tonight.”
Hawkins was relieved to have seen the last of Hilltoppers sophomore libero Meg DeMaar, who epitomized her team’s feistiness with 28 digs.
“We tried to serve away from her as much as possible,” Hawkins said. “It seemed like she was everywhere tonight.”
Grace Leland and Megan Wagner had 9 kills and junior setter Caleigh Ryan 38 assists and 21 digs for Glenbard West. The Hilltoppers’ 31 wins were their most since 1983. Better yet, they return all but one starter.
“This was supposedly our ‘take a hit year,’” Mastandrea said. “We’re going to take this disappointment into a great start for next year. Be aware that Glenbard West is here to stay.”