Benet senior setter Ellie Stiernagle was a little more hyped up than usual Wednesday.

“We got some new jerseys,” Stiernagle said. “We just got them literally today, so I think we were all kind of pumped.

“It was kind of a fun thing. We were excited to show out.”

The Redwings rocked their new jerseys and then rocked Metea Valley. The Northwestern-bound Stiernagle led the way, serving nine consecutive points as the host Redwings jumped to an 11-1 lead in the first set en route to a 25-5, 25-11 victory.

Stiernagle finished with 17 assists, 14 service points, three kills and three blocks in what was arguably the best performance of her four-year varsity career.

“I like being intense,” Stiernagle said. “It’s more fun to play that way. It’s more fun to hype up the teammates.”

The Redwings (7-1) were hyped up from start to finish in a nearly flawless performance. They made only three hitting errors and two serving errors, held a 35-1 edge in service points and 10-0 advantage in blocks.

And it all started with Stiernagle.

“She’s definitely a leader on the court,” Benet senior middle Molly Welge said. “I feel like if she’s having a lot of energy, if she’s feeling confident like that, that rubs off on all of us.

“I’m pretty proud of how we played that first set.”

The first set was over in less than 20 minutes. Metea Valley (5-2) scored the first point on a kill from sophomore outside hitter Katie Wagner.

Wagner had six kills to tie for game-high honors with Welge and Benet outside Brooklynne Brass, but the Mustangs managed to score consecutive points just once, and that was late in the match.

“We passed really well,” Metea Valley coach Dave Macdonald said. “We just have to find scoring.

“They held (senior middle) Olivia (Stewart) in check. I thought our sophomore, Katie Wagner, played really well and played up to a very good team, one of the top teams in the state.

“They play fast, they play smart, and they’ve got a lot of different options.”

Indeed, the Redwings got five kills and two blocks from Wisconsin-bound senior middle Lynney Tarnow, three blocks from junior middle Sophia Youssef and 10 service points from defensive specialist Abby Lee, who served the final seven points of the first set as well as the final point of the match.

Libero Claire Weathers added eight digs and six service points for Benet.

“We’re trying to play some clean volleyball in general,” Benet coach Brad Baker said. “We want to earn points, and we want to make the other team earn points. If that happens, usually you have a good result.”

The Redwings haven’t always played clean this season. Poor passing against Lockport led to their only loss of the season, and they made 10 errors in the first set of Tuesday’s 25-17, 25-14 victory over Lincoln-Way East.

There were no such lapses against Metea. Stiernagle made sure of that during her latest outstanding performance.

“She played great,” Baker said. “She’s had a lot of those in her career.

“It’s fun to watch. We see it all the time in practice. It’s just not everyone else gets to see it.”