Mighty Macs settle for third at Nike Challenge

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No Illinois team has won the Nike Challenge at Mother McAuley since 1998. Few have come as close as McAuley did Saturday.

A kill by Kelly Griffin gave the Mighty Macs a 21-20 lead against St. James of Kansas City (Kan.), the fifth-ranked team in the nation according to PrepVolleyball.com, in the third game of the teams’ Gold flight semifinal.

But Griffin rotated out of the Macs’ lineup after her big kill, and St. James rallied to defeat McAuley 20-25, 25-16, 25-23.

Assumption (Ky.), a team McAuley whipped Thursday, defeated St. James 25-14, 25-12 to win the Nike title. McAuley had to settle for third place after beating Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.), 25-18, 25-20.

“[Griffin] was on a mission with the last kill,” McAuley coach Jen DeJarld said. “We just had too many unforced errors, too many hitting errors, which we normally don’t do. But I really like the way we responded in this match. We had a lot of fight in us.”

A tip kill by Griffin (13 kills, four blocks) gave McAuley (18-2) a 16-14 lead in the third game and the Macs maintained a two-point advantage at 20-18 after a block by junior middle Paulina Sambor.

But a service error at 21-20 and consecutive kills by St. James sophomore Hanna Forst allowed the visitors to grab a 23-21 lead. A McAuley hitting error down 24-23 sent the Kansas team to the finals.

McAuley’s Catherine Wildner added seven kills and 13 digs against St. James, Sue Hayes had 22 digs and setter Desiree Aramburu finished with 28 assists, five kills, three blocks and 15 digs.

“Every year we talk about how we can achieve anything we put our mind to,” Aramburu said. “It’s frustrating to know we could have won. They [St. James] play a lot like us. We both do a lot of the same things. It’s almost like they’re reading your mind.”

Downers Grove South (17-6), ousted by St. James in the quarterfinals, finished sixth in the Gold division after losing to Plant (Fla.), 29-27, 25-20.

“Plant is an awesome team,” Downers South coach Colleen Reagan said. “Their libero is fabulous and they can really bring it. But we’re going to get there sooner than later when we do and no one will recognize us.”

Annemarie Hickey had 19 kills, Gina Vera had 41 assists and sophomore Lainey Wyman added seven kills as Joliet Catholic (18-2) defeated Pius XI (Milwaukee, Wis.) 22-25, 25-16, 25-19 to win the Silver division.

“I’m happy,” Joliet Catholic coach Chris Scheibe said. “We’ve been working on our passing and being scrappier defensively. We’re still putting a bunch of juniors on the floor who have the potential to keep improving all year long.”

St. Francis (20-5) finished eighth in the Gold division, losing to Newport Harbor (Calif.) 21-25, 25-23, 25-12 in the seventh-place match.