Boys volleyball: St. Charles East sweeps St. Charles North
One of the skills in coaching is knowing when to call a timeout.
St. Charles East's Kate McCullagh signaled for one so her team could refocus after St. Charles North pulled within two point of the Saints, 19-17 in the second set of Tuesday's first regional semifinal match at North.
The Saints had a commanding lead, 17-10, when the North Stars pulled off a 7-2 run and appeared on the verge of winning the set to even the match and force a third game.
The minute break had the desired effect for the Saints. East regrouped, scored the next three points to retake control and won the set, 25-20, and clinched the match. East won the first game, 25-15.
The Saints (22-10) advance to Wednesday night's title game against Bartlett. The Hawks beat Addison Trail in three sets, 18-25, 25-14, 25-16, in the second semifinal match.
"It was just a momentum change, I think. Volleyball is so much of a momentum game and they started to rattle off a few points," McCullagh said. "We called that timeout, refocused and went out there and finished it. I think we ultimately knew that we needed to buckle down."
"It was lack of execution, we were getting excited for that final game," the Saints' Colin Hanley said. "Our coach told us (during the timeout) to keep pushing, keep doing the things we have been doing all season. We trusted that because that's what got us here. We were able to pull it together."
Hanley tallied 5 kills, a block, an ace and 7 digs.
"We just realized that this is our last match. So we were trying to gut it out and play as hard as we could. Sometimes when you have that extra gear, things kind of swing your way. You catch a lucky break, you score a critical point in your favor. We had the momentum," said St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer. "It was kind of hard coming out of the timeout that they called. You felt that momentum shift and they rattled off 2-3 points."
"We had nothing to lose. The season was going to be over if we lost, so we were just playing our hearts out," said North senior co-captain Ben Woytych, who led the North Stars with 6 kills.
"We just didn't execute on those last few points," added Kyle Gruber. Gruber, also a senior co-captain, had 14 assists.
St. Charles East was in control throughout the first set.
"St. Charles East played really well (in the first game). They did not make a lot of mistakes and just executed really well," Weimer said. "Serve-receive was spot on for them. Their attacking was really good and they were picking up a lot of balls in defense."
"When you are playing your rival, emotions are high as it is. We know that they've got some pretty good players on their team so we just tried to focus on our side," said McCullagh. "We came out excited to be here, excited to play in this gym and we just took care of business."
The Saints' Mik Brunovskis led all players with 13 kills. Jacob Stark (5 kills), Bayden Slavik (26 assists) and Jakob Coker (12 digs) all contributed to East's win.
St. Charles North's Sam DeDobbelaera had 5 kills while teammate Cameron Menini made 12 digs. The North Stars finished the season with a 12-21 record.