St. Charles North uses timely net play, tide-turning stops to take straight set victory over Metea Valley

WEST AURORA — St. Charles North didn’t come out of the gate the way it wanted to Tuesday.

In the first set of its Class 4A West Aurora Sectional semifinal matchup against Metea Valley, the North Stars found themselves trailing 21-17.

Head coach Lindsey Hawkins decided to call a timeout to remind the team of what they needed to do to make sure they didn’t fall into a one-set deficit.

“I just told them that we were making a lot of our own errors and scoring points for them,” Hawkins said. “I just had to remind them that we’ve served aggressively and played great defense all season long, and we weren’t doing that. So they came out a little bit fired up and ready to go.”

Apparently, her players got the message.

The second-seeded North Stars went on to win eight of the next 10 points, and never trailed in the second set to secure a 25-23, 25-16 win over the third-seeded Mustangs.

The North Stars will go on to face Benet (37-1) in the sectional final, and will be looking to get their first win over the Redwings in three tries this season. The Redwings won their sectional semifinal over Wheaton Warrenville South in straight sets.

“We just need to stay really confident and just be really positive in that game,” North freshman middle Brynn Hopkins said. “We’ve got to not think like we’re already going to be losing, but just always pushing forward and helping everybody out.”

A part of North’s success to end the first set came from excellent net play. After allowing a spike from Metea’s Maddie Hopkins, the North Stars recorded three-straight blocks from Brynn Hopkins, sophomore Ellie Sutter and junior Haley Burgdorf to give them a 24-22 lead, their first since the early portion of the set.

“Coach Hawkins just told us to keep pressing and just keep being aggressive,” Hopkins said. “We just needed to keep reading that hitter’s shoulder, and we did that to stay aggressive.”

North (32-6) got another boost of momentum near the middle of the second set. After Metea Valley went on a 7-4 run to cut the North Stars’ lead to 12-10, a score board mishap caused a 10-minute delay. During that time, Hawkins did her best to remind her girls to stay mentally tough and not let the stoppage get in their head.

And once again, they delivered. The North Stars ended the match with a 13-6 run to close out the set and advance to the sectional finals.

“Right out of the stoppage, Metea scored a point and I was like ‘Oh boy, here we go,’” Hawkins said. “But we managed to respond, and I felt like they just went on a roll after that. They get really fired up when I get fired up, and it seems to ebb and flow off of each other, so it was good that they responded.”

Burgdorf once again lead the way for the North Stars in the kill category. The Penn State commit finished the match with 15 kills. Of those, 10 came in the second set, and six of them in the final streak.

“She’s just got a motor,” Hawkins said. “We’ll get out of practice and she’ll go do an extra workout. She’s got the work ethic and the heart that just gives her that X factor.”

For Metea Valley, its season ends with a 28-9 record. Despite not having their starting middle in Olivia Stewart, who was injured in their regional final win against Geneva, head coach David MacDonald said he was very proud of his girls for fighting, despite the multiple changes they made throughout the season.

“In the first set, we had a great game plan and we had it there, but we just had a couple of mistakes and that’s the attention to detail right now that is going to win or lose you a match at this point of the season,” MacDonald said. “But I’m just so proud of these girls. They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them and they never stopped fighting from Day 1.”