Jendryk, Redwings ready to take flight

Benet's Jessica Jendryk (13) prepares for a spike in a game against Providence last season.
(Beck Diefenbach/Naperville Sun)

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Jessica Jendryk said that as a freshman at Benet, volleyball helped her to overcome her shyness.

"Volleyball helped me to open up more," said Jendryk, Benet’s powerful 6-foot-1 middle hitter. "I used to be timid."

Shy and timid are no longer adjectives teammates, coaches and opponents use to describe Jendryk, especially on the volleyball court.

"She’s not timid,” said Benet coach Brad Baker. ‘‘She knows she can play."

Jendryk, who committed to Illinois when she was just a sophomore, is the reason Benet begins the 2008 season as the No. 1 team in the area, and Prepvolleyball.com’s No. 4 team in the nation.

"When we need a ball put away, she does it," Baker said. "Even when everybody in the gym know she’s getting the ball, it still doesn’t matter. When she gets a good set, she’s unstoppable."

But the pressure of being the leader of the area’s top team, the most dominant player on a national title contender and the attacker her teammates will look to when things are tough doesn’t seem to faze Jendryk.

"She has a cockiness about her," Baker said. "But it’s not a negative cockiness. When it comes to sportsmanship, she’s fantastic. She’s always the first person to congratulate the other team and say, 'Nice job.' "

Last summer, Jendryk led her team to the bronze medal at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships in Tucson, Arizona. A few days after returning home, she helped her Benet team win a summer power league championship.

But a state championship is something Benet has never won.

"We just have to take it one match at a time," Jendryk said. "We have to be mentally tough. Other teams will come out knowing how good we are and want to beat us. We just have to play every team as hard as we can.

"I try to be a leader on the court and make sure everybody is on the same page," she added. "When we play united, we can’t be beat."

Meanwhile, Jendryk is helping to prepare Benet for life without her. She has taken her younger sister, Jenna, a freshman at Benet, under her wing.

"Sometimes when we’re running hills for conditioning, I’ll ask her to be my partner," Jendryk said. "We’ll push each other. There’s a little sister rivalry there, but it makes us both work harder."