It’s been no question that Haley Burgdorf has been a center point for St. Charles North for the past four years.

But Thursday, it was her final time defending her home court. And she made sure to put on a show.

In her final game on the North Stars’ court, the Penn State commit put up 17 kills on the night to help the home team to a straight sets (25-16, 25-16) victory over Downers Grove North.

“It’s amazing, but it doesn’t feel like a chapter is ending,” Burgdorf said. “We’ve still got the postseason and hopefully state, so it’s not the end. But it was definitely fun playing with these girls one last time on this court.”

The North Stars (32-3) ended the regular season with 31 victories in straight sets, and winning each of their last 20 sets played. It’s the second time this season that they’ve won 20+ straight sets, winning 34 in a row earlier in the season.

“They’re playing some of their best volleyball right now and they just keep trying to work on the little things,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “They’re feeling pretty confident in how they’re playing right now, so I think that’s great, especially with showing up against a tough team like that.”

That confidence was more than apparent throughout the match. The North Stars never trailed after the first point, and only allowed the Trojans to get within one point once (15-14) midway throughout the second set, before going on a 10-2 run, which was led by four kills from Burgdorf, to close out the set

“Those last two steps I always have a really explosive approach,” Burgdorf said. “And I saw where their blockers were going to set up. My inside kills were going in hard, and (senior setter) Mia McCall does a really good job of setting me up so that I can always see the blocks very clearly.”

Burgdorf’s play at the net opened up the floor for some other North Stars to get in on the action, especially senior Amber Czerniak, who finished with nine kills to go alongside an ace and a block.

“We were just seeing openings out on the court, so we were just kind of rolling with all of that,” Czerniak said. “The middle of the court was working really well for us. But when there wasn’t a block, we were just ripping it as hard as we could at the net.”

It was that consistent attack at the net that the Trojans (24-11) could not contain for a majority of the contest. A lot of it was due to the team being down three starters, which included senior middle Nora Benjamins in the contest.

“We knew we were coming into a tough situation, but we just tried to make the most of it in terms of just getting better,” Trojans coach Mark Wasik said. “And we did some good things. We had some nice rallies, some good, tough shots. We’re just continually a work in progress from a consistency standpoint.”

Senior Kelley Crowley led the play at the net with five kills for DGN, which had its only lead of the night after winning the first point. But even with the loss, Wasik sees it as a good opportunity for the girls on the team to grow before heading into the playoffs, where the Trojans hold the second seed in the Class 4A Lyons Sectional.

“The message is just to keep working, put themselves in the best situation to be successful and don’t leave anything behind or off the court,” Wasik said. “And even in this game, we can feel OK knowing the lineup that we had, and it’ll just make us stronger in the end.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2025/10/24/haley-burgdorfs-17-kills-leads-st-charles-north-to-straight-sets-victory-over-downers-grove-north/