Girls Volleyball: Lia Schneider ‘makes things happen,’ helps lead St. Charles East’s sweep of Plainfield North

ST. CHARLES – Lia Schneider’s game face evidently is hard to crack.

Schneider, a St. Charles East senior defensive specialist and libero, likes to keep her intense focus on the game and the play at hand.

It leads to positive results for the Saints more often than not.

“She’s just a phenomenal player,” St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said after the Saints’ 25-21, 25-18 sweep over Plainfield North on Aug. 30. “She has a court sense like no other.”

Schneider, who had eight digs and an ace, seems to scoop up any opposing attack.

“I just love to get on the ground honestly at that point,” Schneider said. “It’s just so fun, and then getting all the hype from it, too, especially when you can dig anything and your teammates trust you so much, having that trust just makes me so much of a better player.

“It makes our team better, too, because they know I can always get it. I trust them to trust me.”

Kull, who is in her 36th season of coaching volleyball, arguably has seen it all when it comes to skills.

“I’ve never had a player that’s got court sense like that,” Kull said.

“There’s some good kids that I’ve had passing and such, but the way that she sees the court, the ball, the way she runs it, she just does great things. I always say she’s a wizard and they laugh at me for that, but she’s a wizard. She makes things happen.”

The Saints (1-1) were powered by outside hitter Kate Goudreau’s 12 kills. Natalee Rush added six blocks and two kills. Sarah Musial had four digs and Maya Lopez had five digs.

“Kate, she was on fire,” Kull said. “She really did a great job and Natalee in the middle blocking. Our defense, I think, they covered pretty well. This is what I knew they could do. They didn’t start the season out that way, but I couldn’t be prouder.”

St. Charles East has four returning seniors in Schneider, Goudreau, Lexi Crossen and Julie Ferrandino. Musial highlights the juniors with varsity experience.

The group is hoping to build on a regional plaque earned last year.

For now, it’s about jelling and enjoying themselves in the moment.

“As a group, we’re always very superstitious,” Schneider said. “We have a lot of things that we like to do. We love to party and dance, especially [pregame] when we’re all in the corner hyping each other up. So then we come out [ready to play].”

Plainfield North (5-2) was led by five kills apiece from Lizzie Fitzgerald and Lauren Jansen. Ella Malevich had four kills.

“Essentially, we have new pins, a couple new middles [and] new people in the back row, which basically early in the season we’re trying to see where the pieces are going to fit and play around with things,” Tigers coach Matt Slechta said. “The consistency, I think, will come the more they start playing together. For us, it’s just all the first-contact skills. We need to really focus on passing, serving, defense. Those are the three main things that keep us in system.”