Girls Volleyball: Fired up St. Charles East knocks off South Elgin to take regional title

ST. CHARLES – St. Charles East was fired up right from the start and it showed.

The Saints, bristling at having to play on the “visitors’ court” at their own gym, easily won the first set against second-seeded South Elgin, then survived a wild second set for a 25-16, 26-24 win and the title of the Class 4A St. Charles East Regional.

Katie Goudreau’s eight kills led the way for the Saints. Isabella Mosquera added six kills and three blocks, while Alexia Crossen had five kills and four aces.

The Saints face Huntley at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Grant Sectional.

The Saints trailed 24-23 in the second set. Facing set point, the Saints tied it on a Crossen kill.

With Sarah Musial at the service line, a Mosquera block put the Saints ahead and Musial blooped a short serve in for an ace to finish it off and set off a wild celebration by the raucous home crowd.

“They made us go on this side of the court and that’s our home side,” said Saints coach Jennie Kull, indicating the opposite side of the court. “It kind of poked the bear a little bit and I got the kids psyched up and ready to go. Don’t poke the bear. I’m an old bear and I don’t like to be poked.”

That readiness showed up fairly quickly, as the Saints used a 7-0 run to take control of the first set. With St. Charles East leading 12-11, a Mosquera kill started the run that included three aces by Crossen.

“We were all working together and we were all really excited to play and motivated to get it done one last time on our home court,” said Goudreau “We all really worked together to make that big run.”

Alyssa Worden, South Elgin’s Iowa-bound junior, helped get the Storm going in the second set, booming several kills. She put down seven of her match-high 10 kills in that second set.

The Storm took their first lead at 4-3 in that set following a pair of aces by Maggie McGough. A Worden kill made it 6-4, but the Saints kept coming back through 10 lead changes and 15 ties.

Crossen said the Saints were well prepared for the high-leverage situations they faced in the back-and-forth second set.

“We’ve been practicing every single practice with game situations and that’s really helped us, it motivates us,” she said. “People on the bench motivate us every single day and the coaches keep us positive. It felt good out there.”

That togetherness and sense of shared responsibility to which Goudreu alluded has been another theme for the Saints.

“It’s been somebody every day does something different, and that’s been the best part of this team,” Kull said. “Anybody steps up and can make it happen.”

South Elgin finished the season 31-4, the best record in school history.