Girls volleyball: Benet not at its best against league rival Marist
NORMAL - The ultimate tiebreaker for Class 4A girls volleyball in general and the East Suburban Catholic Conference proved anticlimactic Friday evening at Illinois State University.
Marist, the defending state champion, scored 11 of the last 15 points of the first set and 19 of the first 28 points of the second game to knock Benet out of championship contention.
With its 25-18 and 25-15 win over the Redwings in the first semifinal, Marist avenged its only loss to an Illinois school this fall.
"Our conference is one of the toughest in the state," said Marist junior Maddie Arundel, who led both teams with 9 kills. "Getting revenge down here is so much better."
Benet handed the RedHawks their last regular-season defeat in the schools' penultimate league match.
"I would take it one step farther and say it's the toughest conference in the country," said Marist coach Jordan Vidovic.
"Obviously not our 'A' game tonight," Benet coach Brad Baker said. "You want to play your best in these biggest moments."
Marist (38-3) defeated the Redwings (35-6) at the Wheaton Classic early in the season.
The tide of the match turned irrevocably in favor of Marist after the Redwings' Rachel Muisenga and Ann Marie Remmes collaborated on a block to force the seventh deadlock of the first set after the opening 28 combined points.
Arundel would have a pair of blocks in the RedHawks' 4-point burst that provided Marist an 18-14 cushion.
Benet sophomore standout Kyla Kenney ended the mini-run with one of her team-best 8 kills, but the Redwings could not alter the late-set momentum.
Caitlin Wepfer single-handedly staved off two Marist set points for Benet with a kill and ace, but Marist drew first blood on a subsequent hitting error.
"They really checked the block," Kenney said of the RedHawks' defense. "I didn't have many good points."
The ESCC programs split the first 6 points of the second set for the only tie at 3-3.
But it was all Marist for the remainder as Benet could not find answers for the RedHawks' offensive diversity.
"They have some really strong hitters," said Benet junior Hattie Monson, the Notre Dame recruit who had a match-high 14 digs. "That's definitely one of their strengths."
The score ballooned on Benet in the second set as Marist broke the lone second-set tie with a 16-3 run. But Monson was personally responsible for making the final score seem potentially closer in both sets.
On at least a half-dozen occasions, Monson sacrificed her body with a series of sprawling and otherwise near-miraculous lunges to keep rallies alive for Benet.
"I worked to step up my game," Monson said. "I had to keep the Benet mentality of not letting the ball hit the floor."
Benet supersectional heroine Val Tabares had 5 kills to augment Kenney.
Benet's Creighton-bound senior setter Ally Van Eekeren had a team-best 19 assists.
For the match Marist had 26 kills to the Redwings' 21.