Girls Volleyball: Jessica Garland, Lauren Pondel christen St. Charles East's new gym floor in style

ST. CHARLES – St. Charles East seniors Jessica Garland and Lauren Pondel each made a bit of history Wednesday.

Garland's serve to open the brand-new varsity gym floor eventually bopped in after a Neuqua Valley attack error gave the Saints their first point of 2019.

Pondel's kill in the third set capped off St. Charles East's season-opening 25-23, 23-25, 25-19 win.

"It's a team effort; it wasn't just me," Pondel said. "To finish it off was an amazing feeling."

After graduating Clemson commit Mckenna Slavik, Calli Gentry and Sam Urban, the Saints are re-tooling a bit offensively.

The team togetherness and defensive prowess, however, still seems to have carried over from last year's team that won a sectional championship.

"We're a family, we stick together," Pondel said. "We're always pushing through it together."

For Garland, making that first serve Wednesday helped shake off the nerves.

"I knew what I needed to do for my team," said Garland, who had 13 digs and two aces. "I went back there and gave it my most aggressive serve to kick it off."

After the Saints took the first set, Neuqua Valley (0-1) built a 17-13 lead in a back-and-forth second. Tied at 19-19, the Wildcats surged ahead 22-19 on Faith Johnson's kill and ace and Lauryn Householder's kill. Rachel Sheehan and Pondel earned kills for the Saints before a Wildcats attack error tied it again.

Kills by Taylor O'Malley and Johnson, and an ace from Bailey Houlihan put the Saints away.

"It was really disconnected tonight; we're going to make some [lineup] changes based on what we saw tonight," Wildcats Kelly Simon said. "We gave up way too many points. We gave up 10-15 points on errors...[The Saints] were in system a lot because their defense is so outstanding."

The Saints (1-0) then re-grouped in the third set, eventually building a 20-14 lead and keeping the Wildcats at bay.

Pondel made sure of it.

Pondel was a backup setter and played right back defensively last season. She now helps lead the offensive attack at outside hitter. Pondel had eight kills, while Sheehan led with 13. Nina Scoliere had seven kills.

"Everybody makes it easy," Pondel said. "Everybody here, I believe, can play any position."

"I'm just really proud of my girls," St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "I think we sat back a little bit in that second game, but then Neuqua just came on...one of the things we have to depend on is defense."

Emily Stallman paced the Saints defensively with 24 digs, while Kayla Daros followed with 16.

For the Wildcats, Johnson had 12 kills and O'Malley had nine. Bailey Houlihan had a team-high 22 digs.

The Saints return a pair of middle blockers in Anita Prybell and Amarion Isbell that brought plenty of energy. They also feature a new transfer from Glenbard North in libero Olivia Muller.

"Amarion has matured as a volleyball player immensely this year," Kull said. "She's setting balls...she's making the plays that a lot of middles don't make when they are there.

"She and Anita are not only good middles, but they're able to make adjustments and do things to help out. That's really been an asset."