Benet tops Joliet West

Updated: October 25, 2011 9:47PM

Benet didn’t take long to establish its dominance in its first playoff match on Tuesday.

In the first set the Redwings jumped to a 7-0 lead over Joliet West and then went on to win 25-11, 25-7 in the semi- finals of the Benet Regional.

The Redwings will face West Aurora in the finals on Thursday.

“Getting that first win helps our confidence,” said Meghan Haggerty. “We did a good job of getting our middles involved and Joliet West couldn’t stop us. We still have some improving to do, but we’re on the right road.”

That early run featured a pair of aces by Hannah Kaminsky.

The Redwings (33-3) controlled every aspect of the match to the point that coach Brad Baker was able to empty his bench for the last third of the second set.

“We didn’t let up at all,” said Jenna Jendryk of Benet. “These are the playoffs and we don’t let up. We have a lot of pressure on us and everyone wants to beat us. We have a team motto ‘Respect All, Fear None.’ I loved our energy tonight. We didn’t want to let them get one point.”

“We were able to stay in system a lot and we got a lot of quality swings, which makes matches easy,” said Baker. “Our girls have big goals and we have to work hard to achieve them. The girls have had success in the past and it’s kind of a tradition.”

Set Two was the same story. The Redwings were up 7-0 before Joliet West (11-24-1O) got a side-out and then the Redwings kept on increasing the lead with mini-runs of three and four points throughout the set.

“We’re lucky to have strong players at every position and we use everything we have,” said Meghan Haggerty. “We have to keep up the good serve-receive we had tonight.”

Jendryk and Maddie Haggerty were the kill-leaders in the Redwings balanced attack with four each and Meghan Haggerty and Nora Young each had three. Maddie Haggerty and Gabby Pethokoukis had three blocks apiece. Maddie Haggerty and Sheila Doyle had five digs each.

Elexis Coleman led the Tigers with four kills.

“Benet is very talented big and strong,” said Joliet West coach Al Mart. “They’ve got everything. They know what they’re running, they have good chemistry and good communication.. We had to make this match about what we did on our side of the net. Once we got rid of the nerves in Game One, we did some good things.”

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