Pure energy from the very beginning. St. Charles North has talked the talk, but senior outside hitter Mia Dela Merced walked the walk Tuesday night.
Dela Merced served three straight aces to start the match, setting the tone for the North Stars in a 25-6, 25-20 DuKane Conference win over Geneva.
“Especially to start off, we’ve been talking about having that energy right from the beginning,” St. Charles North coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “Mia went back there with a bunch of confidence and let it rip.”
Dela Merced said the North Stars (11-7, 2-1) have parceled out a huge part of practice time focusing on serving, which made the early 6-0 lead all the more satisfying.
“We know we’re a good serving team and we’re aggressive,” Dela Merced said. “Just getting my team excited and we pushed forward from there.”
St. Charles North had one service error in Game 1 but otherwise delivered a spotless effort. Riley Moreno had three kills and three blocks, while Maddy Hyde and Katie Scherer also served aces.
“That was pretty flawless volleyball,” Hawkins said.
Geneva (4-9, 1-1) was unable to stay in system much of the match due to the North Stars’ aggressive serving.
“We work on that a lot in practice,” Geneva coach Lauren Kosecki said. “We didn’t get our feet to the ball. Doing the little things we talk about all the time we just didn’t do.
“It’s just continuing to have those conversations heading into practice this week and getting after it.”
Lauren Benson paced Geneva with four kills.
“We just didn’t handle the pressure,” Kosecki said. “We’re a young team. High-energy environment, you could just see our ability to handle those situations in that first set.
“We came back in the second and played a little bit better. It’s frustrating because we haven’t shown what we’re capable of showing yet. I truly believe we’re more talented than we give ourselves credit for.”
Dela Merced didn’t only shine from the service line Tuesday. She also led the North Stars with seven kills.
“We were very Mia heavy, which is interesting because we have so many other weapons and we can usually spread it out,” Hawkins said. “But we were feeding the ball to her a whole lot, which just shows the trust that everybody has in her.
“She’s kind of the glue. She’s a great senior leader.”
Despite checking in at only 5-foot-7 on the outside, Dela Merced makes the most of her ability. She now leads the North Stars with 125 kills and 94 digs and has 24 aces, second only to Scherer.
“I think it’s just not being scared,” Dela Merced said. “Obviously, everybody is going to be taller than me. I can’t control that. I just swing as hard as I can, try to be aggressive. It’s just strategy.”
Hawkins said she stacked the North Stars’ schedule early in the season, which has contributed to some losses. That experience, however, is starting to pay off.
“I think that just kept pushing us and showing us a little bit of what we were capable of, even if we weren’t always getting the win,” Hawkins said. “Now, we’re starting to get the chemistry and all cylinders are firing.
“We’re really starting to pick it up.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
