Sports
Motivated Saints Spike Barrington
St. Charles East's volleyball team uses weekend loss as extra inspiration.
Good teams use losing as a source for extra motivation.
St. Charles East's volleyball team certainly fits into the category of a good team, having won nine of its first 10 matches heading into its nonconference showdown with Barrington Thursday in St. Charles.
The Saints, who suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of St. Francis in the finals of the Conant Early Bird Invitational Saturday (by scores of 25-19, 25-22), opened their Upstate Eight Conference River Division campaign with a straight-game victory over Elgin Tuesday before improving their record to 10-1 with a 25-19, 25-8 win over Barrington.
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Junior outside hitter Meghan Niski recorded nine of her team-leading 12 kills in the first game for the state-ranked Saints.
"It was definitely a wake-up call to us that we have to work harder every day," Niski said of the loss earlier in the week. "We can only get better from here."
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"We looked at some tape after the St. Francis match," said Saints coach Jennie Kull, who has guided the team to a pair of state titles in 2001 and 2008. "I think we learned a great deal from it and we were able to execute today.
"During the season, losing isn't always bad. I mean a loss is a loss but if you can learn from it, you're OK."
Niski, who has a nine-foot, 10-inch vertical leap, displayed her athleticism throughout the match, especially in the first game. She had three of her team's first four kills and added the last two kills, one coming on a perfectly timed back-row slam.
Sam Szarmach, one of just two seniors on the squad, added seven kills and an ace, while sophomore setter Erienne Barry had three kills and a pair of aces.
The Saints also received contributions from Olivia Desormey, Maisey Mulvey, Kathleen Dailey, Sarah Dugan, Allison Manley, Stephanie Camper, Nicole Lambert and Nicole Woods.
"Meghan played well," said Kull. "Sam Szarmach did a great job for us and our kids really came off the bench and stepped up.
"It was a total team effort. Every single kid played and every single kid did something well today."
