St. Charles East advances in state semifinals
NORMAL - Losing in the state semifinals last year is now nothing but a distant memory for the St. Charles East girls volleyball team.
The Saints rallied from a 21-16 deficit here Friday evening and downed Evanston 26-24, 25-20 in the Class 4A semifinals at Redbird Arena.
St. Charles East (37-4) will play for the state championship at 7:30 p.m. today against Benet Academy (40-1). Benet defeated Mother McAuley 25-21, 20-25, 25-21 in the other semifinal Friday.
The Saints, who finished third here last year, may not have played their A game Friday but they got the job done.
"Wow," said Saints' coach Jennie Kull, who will coach in her second state championship match after winning the Class AA state title in 2001. "I know we're young and we said that at the beginning of the season. People call me a sandbagger but you never know. Obviously today our older kids stepped up and did a great job."
The Saints only got kills from four players but three of those are the "older" players Kull spoke of. Senior Haley Streich led the way with 11 kills while juniors Caroline Niski and Jacqui Seidel 10 and 7 respectively. Seidel added 11 digs and senior setter Laura Homann had her usual steady match with 31 assists.
"All the younger girls were a little nervous so having the experience really helped," said Streich. "We just tried to not let the nerves get to us."
Early on, though, the Saints didn't play with their usual aggressiveness. But when an Evanston service error put St. Charles East freshman Maisey Mulvey at the line the comeback was on. Two Wildkit errors and kills from freshman Meghan Niski (7 kills) and Seidel tied the first game at 21.
"I thought our back row did a really good job of playing defense," Meghan Niski said. "Our sets were really good. It was easy for me to hit it down."
Tied at 21, the teams traded point for point until the Saints got the upperhand when Streich made a great read and sent a crosscourt kill to an open spot kill to make it 25-24. Then, with Stacy Reid serving, Caroline Niski took a perfect set from Homann and put down the game-winner.
"For some reason we like to come from behind," Kull said. "We've done it so much this year that we don't get nervous anymore."
Game 2 was tight early but opened up when the Saints, leading 18-13, used a 4-point run with Reid at the line to go ahead 22-13. Two kills from Streich, an ace, and an Evanston error fueled the spurt.
St. Charles East closed out the match moments later on a Meghan Niski kill.
"I think we beat ourselves tonight," said Evanston coach Pam MacPherson, whose team is now 30-11. "We didn't come with our A game and the nerves of being here for the first time got to us. We made some critical errors and let a good team back into the game."
That "good" team now gets a chance to play Benet, the Daily Herald's No. 1 team all season, for the state title.
"We've seen them play and they're very good," said Kull. "I hope we come out and play a little more relaxed and have fun. We've beat last year now, which is cool. Our season's going to end (today) and we'd like it to end on a high note."
Mutual respect: Kull will coach today shortly after her mentor, former Saints coach and current Burlington Central coach Marv Leavitt, takes his Rockets against Joliet Catholic for the Class 3A title.
The Saints and Rockets practiced together Friday morning prior to the semifinals. Kull was an assistant to Leavitt for several years at St. Charles.
"How about that," she said. "We had a great time practicing together this morning. Our coaching staff has always been a family and he's part of our family."
Kull and Leavitt shared a friendly hug after the Saints'win Friday night.
"I'm so happy for her," said Leavitt, who is coaching downstate for the first time. "This is so neat for both of us."
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