Rosary rides roller coaster to 3rd place

The Rosary girls volleyball team didn't reach the championship match of the Waubonsie Valley Warriors Blast.

So it did the next best thing.

The Royals topped Waubonsie Valley 25-21, 25-23 in the third-place match of the 16-team tournament Saturday in Aurora.

"Well, our goal was to win it, but once we lost our first match today we had to set a new goal, so we reached that goal," said Royals all-tourney selection Lindsey Weber after putting down a team-high 6 kills against Waubonsie Valley (13-5). "It's definitely a positive. I still think we could have done better, and we should have."

Rosary coach Linda Kasper felt the same way. She wasn't happy with how her team played in a 25-17, 22-25, 25-22 semifinal loss to Neuqua Valley (13-4).

"It was horrible," Kasper said. "Right now we are just too streaky. We get a lead, then we let them creep back into the game and then we pull it out at the end. Or they get a big lead at the beginning and we can't catch up. It's just too up and down.

"We were on a roller coaster all weekend long. I just want to get off."

In the third-place match, Kelly Hogan contributed 5 kills and Kylie Schalz added 4 for the Royals (14-4).

Kasper praised setter Christine Hartmann.

"She's been playing with a bad back all weekend and she did a phenomenal job for being in pain," Kasper said.

Neuqua Valley would up making history and issuing payback at the same time.

The Wildcats captured their first-ever tournament title by sweeping Downers Grove North 25-20, 25-20 in the championship match.

"It feels great to finally make Neuqua Valley history and just finally win that tournament," said Wildcats all-tourney setter Paige Stevens. "It was one of our goals at the beginning of the season and we finally reached it."

It was sweet revenge for Neuqua Valley, which got swept by Downers North (13-5) in the tourney title match last year.

This time, both clubs were coming off three-game semifinals. Neuqua Valley wasn't happy with the way it played in its semifinal win against Rosary, but rebounded with an energetic effort in the championship match.

"I think we were just really excited to play Downers Grove North again since we got creamed by them last year in the finals of this tournament," Stevens said. "We just came out extra fired up for that reason."

"Coming into the championship match with the disappointment of how poorly we executed in the semifinals, they wanted to really clean things up and play tougher in the finals," Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said of her players. "I think we were more aggressive. I think we were a little bit looser."

In the first game, Neuqua Valley used a 6-point run -- in which Michelle Madeja landed 3 of her 8 kills -- to build a 21-13 cushion. In Game 2, the Wildcats scored the first 4 points, and comfortably protected that lead the rest of the way.

"Unfortunately, again, we did not step up to the challenge," Downers North coach Laura Johnwick said. "I don't even think I can pinpoint one thing. In all aspects of the game we were not excited. We were not fired up. We didn't have intensity."

Molly Sigerich's 8 kills and 2 aces paced the Trojans, who advanced with a 22-25, 25-16, 25-23 semifinal triumph over Waubonsie Valley.