St. Charles North Stars Rally Past Saints Spikers

While the St. Charles North boys volleyball team rallied for a three-game victory over St. Charles East, the two friendly rivals waged a far bigger battle off the court Tuesday night.

Players, coaches and fans donned “Fighting for a Cause” T-shirts as part of the inaugural fundraiser benefiting the Living Well Resource Center and Living Well 2011 Bridge Walk.

The idea for the fundraiser came from Saints varsity coach Kate McCullagh, whose father, Michael Kevin McCullagh, passed away last fall.

“I lost my father in November to bladder cancer,” McCullagh said. “I knew I wanted to do something, some sort of cancer fundraiser. Then when I saw some of the Living Well signs, I thought, ‘Hey, that would be a great way to do something for a good cause and kind of tie it into my personal mission of trying to help a good cause.’”

McCullagh has high hopes for the future of the “Fighting for a Cause” fund-raising event.

“We’re just hoping that each year we can build on it and go from there,” McCullagh said. “Hopefully someday, it can get as nice and big as the girls’ ‘Volley for the Cure.’ That’s our goal.”

On the court, the Saints (10-13, 3-1) capitalized on some unforeseen events during the opening game.

Several St. Charles North (10-9, 4-1) senior starters were benched in Game 1.

“There were issues with a recent practice,” admitted St. Charles North middle hitter Bennett Gust. “A lot of guys didn’t show up for school on ‘Senior Ditch Day,’ so they had to miss the first game.”

“It was a different starting lineup,” McCullagh said. “Their (usual) starters didn’t start and I think that had a lot to do with it (first-game results).”

Gust and Sean Donlevy returned for the second game and helped spark the North Stars’ comeback, as the tandem combined for 13 of the team’s 18 blocks.

“Blocking is huge,” said North Stars coach Todd Weimer. “Graduating 10 seniors (last year), we have a lot of inexperience. This was huge because it is varsity volleyball with lots of attackers and blocking is a very crucial part of the game.

“Sean and Bennett were on the same page tonight,” Weimer added. “They’ve been playing together for a couple years now. They’re seniors. The communication is there, and they know the technique very well with lots of reps.”

St. Charles North’s expertise at the net may have frustrated the Saints’ attack, which was keyed by Imran Hasan (10 kills), Tom Sheehan (10 kills), and Josh Carnell (nine kills, four blocks).

“It forced them to do something they don’t want to do,” said Weimer.

In the third game, the Saints battled back from a 10-1 deficit to tie it at 17-17 and again at 18-18 before the North Stars closed with a 7-4 run to pull out the decision.

“We always like to make it interesting,” Gust said.

“It’s hard when you’re always feeling you’ve got to fight, fight, fight,” McCullagh said. “You never really get to calm down, and I think that kind of started to wear on us.”