North powers way to title match

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St. Charles North’s Sarah Clarkson bumps the ball during Thursday’s regional semifinal against Glenbard West. Jeff Krage – For the Chronicle

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ST. CHARLES – All it took was the dawn of the postseason for the St. Charles North girls volleyball team to ratchet up its intensity enough to please its coach.

“We’ve practiced our butts off the last couple of weeks, and I saw something in them that I haven’t seen all season,” first-year North coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “We’ve been kind of waiting. I’ve been kind of dragging it out of them, and I saw it this week and last week, and I was glad. It’s about time.”

The sense of purpose bubbled over throughout Thursday’s 25-14, 25-16 win against Glenbard West in the IHSA Class 4A St. Charles North Regional semifinals. North advances to the regional championship game against Bartlett at 1 p.m. Saturday.

North was in control throughout the night, led by a strong showing by senior Jen Ask (team-high seven kills).

“She more than anybody has always had that attitude about her, that sense of urgency, and she’s starting to instill it in other people,” Hawkins said. “It’s becoming contagious.”

As is often the case, North enjoyed an advantage in size and power at the net. Allie Van Dril, Karlie Giesler and Jill Stolzenburg led a swarm of North blockers, keeping Glenbard West (20-17) from gaining traction.

“We had some of our better players get blocked, and it takes you out of your rhythm,” Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said. “We could never really find our offensive rhythm because of that.”

North (24-11) was especially relieved that its trend of lethargic play in Game 2 – a frequent bugaboo for the North Stars during the regular season – didn’t carry over in their postseason debut.

“We’ve tried everything but lately it’s just been getting the first few points because that’s usually where we have our lull,” Van Dril said. “Once we get some momentum and get our energy back up, we just go from there.”

North played Bartlett, an Upstate Eight Conference foe, twice this season, winning the first meeting in two games and the second in three. Bartlett, though, is the No. 4 seed in the Geneva Sectional, while North is seeded fifth.

Ask is determined for her team not to go down without playing inspired volleyball.

“I want to go out with us trying to play our best, and if we lose it’s because we’re playing our hardest and that team is just better than us,” Ask said.

Van Dril doesn’t think there are many teams in the sectional markedly better than her own.

“We know what faces us, and we have a hard road to go in the postseason,” Van Dril said. “But we’re prepared for it, and we’re ready to show what we have.”

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