It was just a regular season match when the St. Charles North and St. Charles East volleyball teams squared off on Sept. 24 at North High. But the packed house and vocal student sections gave it a playoff, win-or-go-home type of feel.
Tonight, that's precisely what it will be when the North Stars and Saints meet in a semifinal match at the Geneva Class 4A Sectional as North looks to avenge the 21-25, 25-12, 25-22 loss. The contest also marks the second time North coach Lindsey Hawkins, a 2003 East graduate, gets to square off against her mentor, East coach Jennie Kull.
"It's going to be very exciting," Hawkins said. "It's always going to be intense between the two schools because we breed such good volleyball players."
North (25-11) beat Bartlett on Saturday to win its own regional, while East (30-6) took the first step toward defending its state title by beating Willowbrook to claim the Schaumburg Regional.
North may have gotten too caught up in the emotion of the match during the first meeting. This time, the North Stars looks to stay focused and keep doing the things that have gotten the team to this point.
"We just need to worry about what's going on on our side of the court," said Hawkins, a first-year head coach. "Last time we made mental errors. This time it's about cleaning up our side of the court and making sure we limit the amount of errors we make. Really, we're gonna do that and hope to be successful."
Allie VanDril, Jill Stolzenburg and Karlie Giesler are the catalysts of a strong front row that's been able to stuff a lot of kill attempts throughout the season for North. They will be asked to do more of the same against the Saints' hard-hitting Meghan Niski and Sam Szarmach, among others.
Saints outside hitter Caroline Niski and setter/hitter Jacqui Seidel are each dealing with nagging ankle injuries and haven't practiced this week. However, Seidel stepped in to play the final two sets on Saturday to help the Saints to their fourth straight regional title.
North will also rely on its consistent serving, which has been an ace-producing weapon.
The winner advances to Thursday's sectional final against either York (27-8) or Geneva (35-2).
Storm looks to prolong run -- At 15-18-1, South Elgin is an unlikely sectional semifinalist, but the Storm showed off its weapons and breezed through the Larkin Regional as the No. 2 seed.
The Storm will no doubt be playing the roll of underdog when it takes on Fox Valley Conference power Cary-Grove (33-4) in a semifinal match at the Huntley Sectional. However, South Elgin was competitive with the likes of Neuqua Valley and St. Charles East during its conference schedule and is looking forward to the challenge.
"We didn't win those but we had some pretty good plays and some good points, so if we can continue to get a run of good plays we'll have a game (tonight)," said South Elgin coach Joni Melahn. "What else can we do besides go out there and try?"
The host Red Raiders (28-9) won a tough Crystal Lake South regional as the No. 2 seed. Up next is Rockford Boylan (23-10) in the other semifinal match.
Boylan, which finished second in the NIC-10, upset No. 1 seed Hononegah to win the Rockford Auburn Regional.
Huntley has been lifted by the return of sophomore outside hitter Samantha Boesch, who missed close to nine weeks of the season due to a dislocated shoulder.
"She's another big hitter so it allows us to take pressure off the others, and she's a big block," said Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski. "We had a great crowd against South and I have high expectations for having the home court and hopefully it helps."
Correspondent Alex Lawson contributed