PREP ZONE: STC still has title touch

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Further proof is in that St. Charles is a volleyball hot spot and, this time, both sides of town chipped in.

Fueled by four starters from St. Charles, the Club Fusion 15-Black team won the national championship on Tuesday at the Junior Volleyball Directors Association tournament in Louisville, Ky.

The team, coached by St. Charles East assistant Mike Bui, included starters Meghan Niski and Erienne Barry of St. Charles East and Jill Stolzenburg and Kim Juriga of St. Charles North.

Niski, a key contributor as a freshman last fall on East’s state championship team, was named MVP of the star-studded tournament.

“The last two days she really stepped up her game,” Bui said. “She carried us in the final match. She took over, that’s all I can really say.”

Although the focus in club sports is usually more oriented toward skill development than winning, in some respects, Niski said the club national title was just as rewarding as East’s state championship.

“Instead of training for a couple months like high school, club was a very long season,” Niski said. “We just had so much fun together. To win a national championship at the end, it feels amazing to see how far we’ve come and how much we’ve learned together.”

Of the four St. Charles girls, all will be sophomores this fall except Barry, who will be a freshman.

Barry, 14, was the only freshman on the team, and blossomed into a quality setter in her first heavy exposure to the position, Bui said.

“To keep her composure in the final match ... that says a lot about a kid who’s only 14,” Bui said.
“She’s got a very bright future. That’s a kid everyone has got to watch for in the next couple of years.”

Barry said she had to fight anxiety early in the season about being the baby of the team.

“I’m so proud of myself and everyone around me is proud,” Barry said.

“I’m proud of my girls, too. They really helped me. They were my No. 1 support group. I love my team.”

North also supplied ample firepower to the Fusion cause.

Stolzenburg, a 6-foot middle blocker, was an all-tournament team selection, and Juriga iced the title with a pair of key blocks to finish off the Muncie (Ind.) Bobcats in the championship match.

Stolzenburg said the East-North dynamic added fun to the tournament – and the
season, which concluded with the tournament championship.

“We always kind of joke around like ‘They’re from East, we’re from North,’ but we all love each other,” Stolzenburg said.

For Niski, the only thing that could have made the tournament any sweeter was if her older sister, Caroline, had been able to stay for the end of the championship match. Caroline had to leave part-way through to catch a flight.

The two sisters will be go-to hitters as the Saints aim to defend their state championship this fall.

“I learned so much more from club this year,” Niski said. “I feel like my skills have improved a lot. I’m so excited for high school.”

Despite plenty of talent on the roster, Club Fusion was considered underdogs against a field loaded with teams nationally ranked by prepvolleyball.com.

Club Fusion came in unranked, and barely made it out of pool play.

“I think winning a national title in the open division is a very big deal in volleyball,” Bui said.

“Obviously you’re competing against some of the top teams in the United States. Any time you can put four

St. Charles kids on one team and they can win a title, it’s pretty impressive to see what kind of talent we have in the area.”

Championship-caliber talent, all year-round.

• Jay Schwab is sports editor of The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@kcchronicle.com.