St. Charles North setter Mia McCall has been keeping track of her assist numbers in her phone more and more frequently.

The senior and Valparaiso commit has a good reason why, with the milestone of 2,000 career assists inching closer and closer.

“It’s just a huge milestone,” McCall said. “I’m only the second setter to get over 1,000 career assists, so this is such a big step up. And it’s something I just want to prove to myself that I can do, and it’ll definitely help if we keep going forward in the postseason.”

And after the North Stars’ regional final matchup against Naperville Central on Thursday, she added 24 to her total and kept her milestone hopes alive for at least one more match.

Led by McCall, the second-seeded North Stars knocked off the ninth-seeded Redhawks 25-13, 25-18 to grab the Class 4A Naperville Central Regional title.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re playing our best volleyball,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “We had a slower match in the regional semifinal and I wasn’t happy. But they came into practice the next day with a very reinvigorated energy, and I was feeling good about it. And after we got through those first points in that first set, I felt good about it again.”

The North Stars (34-3) have now won regional titles in back-to-back seasons for the first time since winning three straight from 2017 to 2019.

And it didn’t take long for them to show it on the court.

After going back and forth to a 6-5 start against the Redhawks, senior and Penn State commit Haley Burgorf put up three aces while helping the North Stars to seven straight points to give them a lead that they would never relinquish in the first set.

“She did a great job going back there in the first set just with a very determined focus to serve aggressive,” Hawkins said. “I thought that really helped lift our team.”

All the while, McCall was spreading the ball around with her sets, establishing senior Amber Czerniak, senior and Illinois State commit Sidney Wright and sophomore Brynn Hopkins early into the contest.

“At one point we just looked at them and just thought that she could set everyone at this point,” Hawkins said. “She was just setting everybody, and it was awesome.”

Burgdorf finished the night leading the team with 12 kills, nine of which came in the second set. Czerniak finished with seven kills, Wright put up five kills, including the final one in the second set, and Hopkins finished with four kills.

“Our team is just so versatile, and I have good hitters on each side of me,” McCall said. “With the level that they’re all playing at, I’m able to spread out the offense, and it really helps draw in the blockers and set everyone else up for better opportunities.”

The game also marked the end of the season for Naperville Central, who finished the season with a 23-13 record in its first year under head coach Eric Kaisling.

But despite the loss, Kaisling said he was proud of the effort levels that his girls put forth the entire contest, especially late in the second set, winning 9 of the final 17 points.

“St. Charles North is a very talented team that’s got players pretty much up and down their roster,” Kaisling said. “I just challenged my girls to show up and give everything that they had. It would’ve been real easy for them to just give up after the first set, but we came back, battled and did everything we could to win, which is all I’ve ever asked of this team.”

The Redhawks had seniors Caroline Impey, Sophia Szingen and Sophia Riddell each put up four kills to lead the offense. But it was the defense at the net that shined, with junior Annabelle Kritzer recording four blocks.

“We just wanted to do our best to play defense, be ready and make a good read on the ball,” Kaisling said. “I thought my team did a good job. I’m proud of them, and the effort level was there all year.”