Saints take battle of Upstate 8 powers

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Caroline Niski had 10 kills and nine digs, Meghan Niski had five kills and eight digs and Laura Homann added 23 assists as No. 4 St. Charles East won the battle of Upstate Eight Conference unbeatens with a 28-26, 25-17 victory over Neuqua Valley Tuesday in Naperville.

Haley Streich added five kills and Jackie Seidel had three blocks and eight digs for St. Charles East (20-1), which improved to 6-0 in the conference. Neuqua Valley (14-6 overall) fell to 6-1 in league play.

“This was a relief after all the work we’ve put in practice the last couple of weeks on our passing,” St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. “I thought we came out and passed well in the second game. We were also able to serve aggressively and took them out of a couple of things.”

The Saints struggled with their passing during a stretch of the first game which saw Neuqua Valley rally from a 14-8 deficit behind Rachel Quackenbush (six kills, seven digs), who served 10 consecutive points including back-to-back aces.

But Neuqua Valley was unable to close out St. Charles East despite enjoying leads of 18-14 and 22-19. The Saints took advantage of a Neuqua hitting error down 22-20 and a service error down 23-21 to pull even on a Caroline Niski kill.

Quackenbush’s kill gave Neuqua Valley a game point at 26-25, but another Caroline Niski kill and two hitting errors allowed St. Charles East to escape with the game one win.

“I felt like we were in control for two-thirds of the first game,” Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. “But at the end we missed two free balls and had two missed serves. We gave up too many points on our errors. We needed to close.”

The second game was all St. Charles East. The Saints raced to an 18-9 lead and never looked back despite six kills each from Neuqua Valley’s Nikki Federico and Beth Blackman.

The Saints now set their sights on this weekend’s Mizuno Cup at the Great Lakes Center, which should give them a better idea of where they stand in the Illinois volleyball hierarchy.

“There are some amazing teams in the tournament,” Caroline Niski said. “Some of the best teams in Illinois will be there. This win gives us a lot more confidence going into the tournament. This weekend should show us where we are.”