Smooth sailing for Stars

When the St. Charles North girls volleyball team found itself trailing late in Game 2 against Bartlett, North Stars coach Lindsay Trudell did not panic. She had enough confidence in her team that they would get out of the jam and beat the Hawks in two games.

The North Stars did just that, as they topped Bartlett 25-18, 25-21 Monday in Upstate Eight Conference action in St. Charles.

"We need to learn how to close better as a team ... but I was really never nervous," Trudell said. "I didn't really feel like we were playing out of system ... it was nice for me to feel at ease and not have to scramble (and think), 'Who is on the bench?' or 'What can I do?' That's not a very fun feeling as a coach, so it was nice for the program and the lineup to be working."

There were three early ties in Game 2 before the North Stars (5-5, 1-1) took a 5-point lead twice. Then the Hawks (8-4-1, 1-1) made a run and took the lead for the first time since the beginning of the game.

With the North Stars leading 16-11 after an Ashley Johnston kill, Bartlett went on a 6-point run behind the serving of Kimmie Caruba, kills from Carly Sahagian and North Stars errors.

"It was great to see our team step up and play when we were down," Bartlett coach Brandon Mueller said. "I thought everyone stepped up (and) made a big play when we had to. We need to start having better ball control on our side. A play here or there, the outcome could have been different, but I thought they played really well the second game. Too bad it didn't go our way."

Bartlett led 17-16 before the North Stars scored three consecutive points. Bartlett got within 23-21 after one of Emily Hayes' match-leading 9 kills, but St. Charles North finished the match on back-to-back points off a Jen Ask kill and double block from Allie Van Dril and Karlie Giesler.

"It was definitely getting nerve-wracking, but we pulled it out," Van Dril said. "Every team rallies back. We've had to do it before, but (the Hawks) were very good about rallying back. It was definitely a challenge."

In Game 1, the North Stars always led and scored no more than 4 consecutive points. Their biggest lead was 22-12 after a block from Ashley Krage, and the game ended on a Van Dril tip kill.

"(Game 1) was a lot of our mistakes," Mueller said. "I don't think they did anything special. It was a lot of us not passing the ball well, not covering our hitting, missing a serve at a big point...it was us making mental errors."