St. Charles East wins state title
NORMAL – State champions do the craziest things.
Shortly after upsetting nationally-ranked Benet Academy for the IHSA Class 4A state volleyball championship Saturday, St. Charles East players kissed the cardboard poster that charted the tournament's final rounds.
The most popular spot to hit, without a doubt, was the one marking East's 23-25, 25-22, 25-19 win against the Redwings.
"Can we keep the board?" freshman outside hitter Meghan Niski wondered.
What, that heavy trophy doesn't suffice?
East scratched a seven-year itch with its first state title since 2001, celebrating with hundreds of orange-clad fans near the Redbird Arena student section behind the team bench.
"I can't even used words to explain it right now," said East junior Caroline Niski, Meghan's sister. "I'm so excited."
Turning the tide on the favored, No. 9 team in prepvolleyball.com's national poll did the trick as the Saints (38-4) prevailed after coming from behind once more.
Players and 12th-year coach Jennie Kull don't deny that rallies have been the team's calling card this season, and this one was especially sweet.
East felt confident after forcing a third game against Benet (40-2), whose only other loss this season came against 3A champion and conference rival Joliet Catholic Academy.
"I think we all thought we could win this," said senior setter Laura Homann, who had 28 assists. "We had come this far and we weren't going to lose it now."
The Redwings, who boast six Division I recruits, used a match-high 17 kills from Ariana Mankus to keep East on its toes.
Along with Natalie Patzin (eight kills), Mankus swung away at the Saints' defense, which shanked a number of its first few shots out of bounds.
Attempting to corral one for a dig midway through Game 1, East freshman libero Maisey Mulvey tumbled hard on her head and went to the locker room. Her return a few minutes later, with the opening game still up for grabs, sent East fans and players into a frenzy.
"I really wanted to come back in," Mulvey said, "to be up and at it again."
The Saints certainly needed her with all the spikes coming their way. Meghan Niski (15) led the team in digs while Jacqui Seidel (13) and Caroline Niski (12) also finished in double digits.
"Benet kept going at us and going at us," said Seidel, who also smacked eight kills, "but we were ready.
"We came out tonight with a lot of fire and a lot of enthusiasm."
Kull, who jumped and pumped her fist almost as feverishly as her players when the match ended, said the Saints took a "nothing to lose" approach.
Benet's three-game semifinal win against eighth-ranked Mother McAuley on Friday night rated as the "real" state championship to some observers.
Several times during a long day – the title match started just before 9 p.m. – she used that as motivation for players.
"You can have a lot of great players, but a team always prevails," Kull said. "I kept harping on that to them, and they took it to heart."
Caroline Niski paced East with 16 kills and, like Kull, credited assistant coach Mike Bui for scouting the Redwings.
Niski said the Saints knew exactly where to attack Lisle and went from there.