Girls volleyball: No. 1 Mother McAuley tops Benet again
At times on Saturday, the Benet girls volleyball team flashed signs of greatness. Unfortunately for the Redwings, Mother McAuley showed off its greatness a little more often.
The two state powers marched their way to the championship match at the Glenbard East Autumnfest tournament, and Benet took a 23-19 lead in the first set following a rocket of a kill by Veronica Snelling.
But the Mighty Macs, ranked No. 1 in the nation and unbeaten against teams from Illinois, battled back to take the opener 28-26 and then complete the sweep with a less suspenseful 25-13 victory in the second set.
"We saw it, it was good," Benet coach Brad Baker said of his team's play in the first set. "We've seen it in us. It's a matter of can we put it together for 90 minutes. We've got it in us. We've just got to do it for a whole entire match."
The 28-4 Redwings recorded impressive wins last week over Glenbard West and previously unbeaten Geneva, and they reached the Autumnfest finals on a long stretch of sweeps.
"We saw it there. We had glimpses last week, but the last two days it hasn't been our 'A' game," Baker said. "To beat that team we're going to have to bring our 'A' game. But we haven't dropped a set in a while so it's been a good stretch. We've got a couple more tough tests next week so it's a good way to end the year."
Mother McAuley (32-1) rallied to tie the opener at 23-23, and then fought off two set points before winning 28-26 after a Lillian Johnson attack shot was just wide. Johnson's shot was close enough to have a couple Redwings teammates celebrate before it was ruled out.
"It's hard. Especially ending on a play like it did, but we need to be able to stay focused and get back into it," said Benet libero Lauren Barnes, who had 16 digs in the match. "I feel like we didn't stay as focused as we needed to be, and I don't know. … We're going to take this, improve on it and work our best to come back and play them again."
The Mighty Macs, the top seed at the Class 4A Marist sectional, have claimed three straight Autumnfest crowns, knocking off Benet all three years. But the Redwings have had the last laugh the last two falls, eliminating Mother McAuley from the state tournament.
"We saw some good things and some bad things this weekend," said Snelling, who had 7 kills in the final and was named to the all-tourney team. "It just shows us what we need to improve on for next time. Hopefully, we get the chance to see them again in the postseason. Just going forward we need to realize what we did wrong this time and use it as motivation."
Benet setter Sara Nielsen also made the all-tourney team after recording 22 assists in the finals. For Mother McAuley, libero Emma Reilly was named tourney MVP and outside hitter Katie O'Connell notched 10 kills against Benet and landed all-tourney honors as well.
The all-tourney squad also included area standouts Claire Wagner (Glenbard West), Claire Delaplane (Downers Grove North), Michelle Lee (Waubonsie Valley) and Alex Vanwestriener (Naperville Central).