Youth shines for Saints

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ST. CHARLES – The St. Charles East girls volleyball team enters today’s supersectional determined, battle-hardened and ready for anything.

The Saints just have to hope they’re not also emotionally spent after a turbulent, yet rewarding, season. East vies for its third straight trip to Redbird Arena in tonight’s St. Charles East Supersectional against Cary-Grove.

In a season of injuries, illness and other misfortunes, the latest emotional flash point for the Saints is the absence of Maryland-bound senior Caroline Niski, who has sat out almost the entire postseason while recovering from an ankle sprain and bone bruising around the ankle.

Fellow Division-I-bound senior Jacqui Seidel is playing through ankle woes of her own.

“I can’t even find words to describe how proud I am,” Caroline Niski said on Friday while receiving treatment in East’s trainer’s room. “After the game [Thursday against York] I started crying. Our team is so young and we have asked so much of them, and they just keep stepping it up every week. They’re doing more and more, and doing so much more than we originally expected at the beginning of the season.”

That includes Caroline’s little sister, sophomore Meghan Niski, who shined in East’s three-game victory against York. It was East’s second three-game thriller of the postseason.

“I’m just trying to take over and step up for her,” Meghan Niski said. “Right now I’m putting all of my energy into the game. I’m doing this for her right now.”

East lost to Cary-Grove when the teams met at an early-season tournament, although the Saints were without another injured starter back then – libero Maisey Mulvey.

Saints coach Jennie Kull said the various hurdles her defending 4A state champs have cleared makes her all the more confident in their ability to handle the pressure of postseason volleyball.

“There’s nothing that’s new to them that they don’t feel they can overcome, so that adversity I think has really paid off in the long run for us,” Kull said.

The Trojans have a pair of Division I recruits themselves in setters Colleen Smith (Indiana) and Abbey Heredia (Jacksonville State). Cary-Grove also has plenty of firepower at the net, most notably outside hitters Kelly Lamberti and Kayla Klinger.

Kull said Cary-Grove will be plenty familiar with East, and not just based on their earlier meeting. Kull has seen Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis scouting the Saints on several occasions.

“I know they know what we do,” Kull said. “I’m not sure we know what we do so she probably knows more about us than we do.”

Home court should give East a lift. Kull said she can not remember the school hosting a supersectional previously in her tenure.

Caroline Niski is hopeful she can inspire the crowd – and her teammates – by taking the court, though her status was uncertain as of Friday afternoon. Caroline Niski said waiting on her ankle to heal is “kind of driving me a little bit crazy right now.”

“Honestly, at this point, I will do anything to get on the court,” Caroline Niski said.

All-UEC team unveiled: The Upstate Eight Conference announced its all-conference volleyball players on Friday.

Caroline Niski, Meghan Niski, Jacqui Seidel and Maisey Mulvey were named all-conference performers from East.

St. Charles North was represented on the team by Allie Van Dril and Karlie Giesler. Giesler recently selected Central Arkansas, a Division I program in the Southland Conference, to play her college volleyball.

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