Defense does trick as Saints outlast Rosary

Stopping Rosary's hard-hitting offense is no easy feat, and St. Charles East needed the better part of three games to get its adjustments to the Royals' relentless attack straight.

But as the third game of a ferociously-paced match progressed, the Saints got things right more often than not -- and that defensive success helped key the hosts' 25-18, 21-25, 26-24 nonconference victory.

"We tried to adjust," St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "One of the things we've pulled on this whole season has been our defense. We had great defense."

St. Charles East's dig stats from the match are impressive. Alex Coello had 11 digs, Caroline Niski had 9, Julia Marks added 6 while Laura Homann had 5.

Jacqui Seidel had 4 digs but had an overall strong match with 8 kills, 5 blocks and 4 assists.

"We've been practicing really well lately and the younger people have gelled with the team," the sophomore Seidel said. "On defense, I try to help out as much as I can."

That team-wide defense was critical because Rosary never stopped hitting well. Emily Weber had 14 kills, Kylie Schalz added 11 while Christine Hartmann added 10 kills for a three-headed attack that was tough to stop.

"Everybody definitely stepped up," Seidel said. "We knew that this was a big game for us because we just came off a loss to St. Francis."

That hitting offense kept the Saints off-balance for much of the match.

"Kylie Schalz was on fire and our passing was decent enough to set for our middle," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said. "We kind of went away from that, though we still won game 2. We went back to it in game 3 but it wasn't as effective."

St. Charles East (8-1) never trailed in the opening game. The second game was closer. Rosary (7-2) trailed 20-17 but roared to take the victory.

"They just outdefended us," Kasper said. "We made too many mistakes for this level of competition."

Rosary maintained a small lead until the late stages of the third game. Then St. Charles East's defense stepped forward. And at almost the same time, the Saints block stood tall.

"We had been trying to make adjustments the entire game," Kull said. "They finally made the adjustments we needed to and we were able to close it out. That's a part of learning. We're young and they had to learn how to make those adjustments."