Benet takes care of business

Sometimes it's easier said than done, but volleyball coaches always stress the importance of taking care of your side of the net.

Don't worry about what's going on on the other side of the net, who they might be missing or how they might be playing, just take care of the business you can control.

Benet (16-1) did exactly that on Wednesday night in a 25-16, 25-10 defeat of a short-handed Wheaton North squad. The Falcons came to Lisle minus a pair of key starters, but the defending Class 4A champion didn't take anything for granted, jumping ahead 16-3 in the opener and completing a very business-like sweep.

"When the other team is missing players that gives you a built-in excuse," Redwings coach Brad Baker said. "But we talk about how it doesn't matter what's going on on their side of the net. It's about our attitude and how we go into the game.

"At the beginning of the year, we weren't worried about that. We were worried about lots of other things and tonight it was: It doesn't matter what's going on on the other side. Take care of the ball and control what we can. And we did that tonight."

Six-foot junior setter Sara Nielsen, who was named to the all-tourney team at last weekend's Wheaton Classic, said Benet was not at its best in Tuesday's win over Joliet Catholic and wanted to play better on Wednesday.

"We didn't feel like we played our best last night," she said. "We just wanted to clean it up and we were really focused tonight. We wanted to take care of business and do what we could on our side to clean things up."

While Nielsen and her teammates were sharp - newcomer Gretchen Rudel had 8 kills and veterans Tiffany Clark and Veronica Snelling combined for 11 winners - the Falcons were without talented middle Abby Tiesman and star libero Allie Maloney.

Maloney suffered a concussion in Tuesday's win over Batavia, and Tiesman, a 6-2 team captain, is out with shin splints. The two were missed against the Redwings as several Falcons had to take on new roles while playing on the road against one of the top teams in the state.

"We had a new libero and we had players in different positions, but they rose to the occasion and they played very mature," said Wheaton North coach Carole Kristensen.

Haley Horner had 4 kills and 2 blocks for the Falcons and Elizabeth LaBue had 7 digs. For Benet, Nielsen recorded 27 assists, 7 digs and 3 kills, and Lauren Barnes had 9 digs.

For Rudel, it's been a smooth transition from the sophomore squad last year to the varsity this fall.

"I was pretty confident coming in," the junior outside hitter said. "They welcomed me a lot. From scrimmaging with them on the other side of the net last year I kind of had an idea of what it was going to be like and I just fit right in with them and we went from there."