Saints show Lancers where to work

After a rough outing against nonconference Downers Grove South on Monday, the St. Charles East girls volleyball team wanted to come out strong against Lake Park.

The Saints did just that, as they topped the Lancers 25-7, 25-23 in Upstate Eight Conference play in St. Charles on Tuesday.

The win gave the Saints a perfect 4-0 showing in conference play and 13-5 record overall.

"Today was really important for us to come out and to be prepared and aggressive," St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "They played great. They took care of the ball … we were more aggressive than how we've played. It's a nice feeling, especially going into Thursday (when the Saints play rival St. Charles North)."

In Game 1 the Saints showed just how fired up they were by making quick work of the Lancers (4-7-3, 2-2).

"(Game 1's problem was) serve-receive and blocking," Lake Park coach Kate Clifton said. "We are going to continue to work on it. We are a very young team, lots of sophomores out there, so we'll continue to work on it. That's all we can do."

Game 2 was much closer, featuring 10 ties throughout the game. In the middle of the game, St. Charles East led by as much as 15-10 before the Lancers turned things around.

Lake Park chipped away at the Saints' lead and passed the Saints after four ties on a kill from Brittany Miller to give the Lancers the 21-20 advantage.

Two St. Charles East timeouts and two Lake Park points later, the Saints got back on track and capped the game and match by scoring the final 5 points.

"We put up such a good fight at the end," St. Charles East setter Laura Homann said. "We came back really strong."

The rally began and ended with Caroline Niski's kills. The sophomore finished with a team-high 7 kills for the Saints.

"She's been so good this entire season," Homann said of Niski. "I know I can depend on her to finish the kill off strong. It was nice."

Niski was one of 4 Saints to record at least 5 kills. Courtney Sjostrom, Homann and Boyd contributed to the attack. Homann finished with 19 assists and was one of three players to post 6 digs.

The Lancers were led by Noelle Fanella's 4 kills.