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Girls volleyball: Benet stings Naperville North in final

As Benet junior Rachel Muisenga moves from right-side hitter to setter this volleyball season, her many valued contributions have changed.

"Being a setter is a lot different than being a hitter," Muisenga said. "I really enjoy setting, too. I like setting up the hitters, making them happy and making them look good. I enjoy all of it."

Muisenga made another significant contribution in Saturday's championship match of the 36th annual Wheaton North Blue and Gold Tournament.

Muisenga served match point as the Redwings defeated Naperville North 25-14, 25-16 for the title.

Benet (5-0) also beat Naperville North (3-2) in Wednesday's pool play 25-16, 25-17. The Redwings, who have only two varsity newcomers after last year's third-place Class 4A finish, lost last year's invite final to Montini in two sets.

"It's a really important step because it's the beginning of our season. For sure, the returning players really wanted to win. We remembered it really stung (in 2018)," Muisenga said.

"I think the pressure's on a little more (serving match point) to get it in. I've missed a few before so I was in the zone. You really want to make those."

The 6-foot Muisenga, a setter in club already verbally committed to Penn State, and Benet senior libero and Notre Dame recruit Hattie Monson were named to the 12-player all-tournament team.

Naperville North was represented by junior hitter Eva Hartung and junior setter Anna Jaworski.

Both teams truly earned their way to the finals. Benet rallied past York 23-25, 25-14, 25-22 and Naperville North outlasted Montini 25-19, 22-25, 25-15. York (3-2) defeated Montini (3-3) for third 25-17, 25-20.

"Especially after a big comeback like that, we knew we had it in us and we knew what we were made of for the (championship) match. We just had to do it again," Monson said.

The Huskies were proud to better last year's third-place finish especially because only three players return with significant varsity experience - Hartung, junior middle hitter Ellie Hall and sophomore libero Ashley Kushner, a defensive specialist in 2018.

In Saturday's final Hartung and senior Rachel Rahtz had 5 and 4 kills, respectively, and Kushner 7 digs. For the five tournament matches, Jaworski had 90 assists, 18 digs and 7 service aces and Hartung had 27 kills and 12 digs.

"It was a tough finals match for us right now because Benet's playing at a faster speed. We have several girls that were getting their varsity debut so we're happy to see glimpses of what (the team) will look like as we progress through the season," Naperville North coach Jennifer Urban said.

"The Montini match was a really nice win for us. I thought the girls played with a lot of intensity and produced offensively."

In 2018 Muisenga also earned all-tournament through her attacking. She showed setter leadership Saturday in distributing the ball to hitters such as junior Kyla Kenney, seniors Sophie Gregus, Colleen McGuire and Maeve Nelligan and sophomore Ann Marie Remmes.

In the first set of the finals, Monson's 5-point service streak with 2 aces completed Benet turning a 10-10 tie into a 20-11 advantage. Monson often also contributes in serve receive and digs.

"I like to go to the floor a lot so that helps me keep a lot of balls up. I'm a flopper," Monson said.

West Aurora (4-2) defeated Glenbard West (2-3) for fifth 24-26, 25-13, 25-18. DeKalb defeated Wheaton North (2-4) for seventh 25-19, 25-23.

Other all-tournament players were York juniors Gigi Barr and Katie Norgle, Montini senior Julia Marciniak and sophomore Paige Pickering, West Aurora senior Kendra Battle, Glenbard West sophomore Makayla Webber and Wheaton North senior Amee Beedle. Barr and Battle also were all-tournament in 2018.

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