By now, Benet is almost becoming an annual visitor to the Illinois State campus in the second week of November.

The Redwings, a state powerhouse under the direction of coach Brad Baker, were making their fourth straight Class 4A state title match appearance on Saturday night.

Seeking its sixth state championship and first since 2019, Benet was hoping to avoid the similar fate that ended the last three trips to the final game of the volleyball season.

But Marist had a different take on history.

The RedHawks, who defeated Benet in the 4A state final last season, weren’t in the mood to alter recent state history on Saturday.

Benet (39-3) defeated the RedHawks in the regular season in two sets on Oct. 14, but one month later, the Redwings ran into a buzzsaw.

Marist was running on all cylinders, posting a dominating and quick 25-18, 25-17 victory over Benet at Doug Collins Court at CEFCU Arena.

Marist junior outside hitter Taylor Berg, an Eastern Michigan recruit, was a terror at the net, along with Maggie Kurpeikis. Berg tallied eight kills and Kurpeikis added seven kills in the two-set victory.

After dealing with a sickness on Friday night, Baker returned to the bench in an attempt to end Benet’s state-title drought. Despite the title-match loss, Baker said the seniors made big strides for the program by becoming the first class to reach the state championship match four years in a row.

“We’re really proud of our senior class,” Baker said. “They are great people, great kids and competitive. They will be hard to replace. Next year we will have a new crew and have a new challenge.”

Benet had contributions from several players, namely star senior outside hitter Brooklynne Brass. The Maryland recruit capped her stellar career with nine kills and nine digs. Molly Welge collected six kills and Ellie Stiernagle had 16 assists and seven digs.

Six-foot-5 senior middle hitter Lynney Tarnow, a Wisconsin recruit, took solace in making program history.

“No team has done this (at Benet) and that’s impressive enough,” Tarnow said. “Of course, it’s not what we wanted. You want the gold around your neck at the end of the day, but we have to give it up to the other team. They just outplayed us. I’ve loved these last four years. Even though this team was doubted, making it down here was huge. I’m so proud of these girls.

“We had a lot of grit. In past years, I feel like we have kind of given up because we had emotions overtake us, but I feel like this group, even though we were down so much, we came back. That showed we can overcome adversity. The fight and grit we had was super impressive.”

Brass said the loss stings, but she was happy to see her career end at state. The 5-11 Brass tried to lead her team back in the second set, tallying two late kills to slice the margin to 19-14.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” Brass said. “It was a really fun season. I’m proud of the team. Marist came to compete, but we left it all out there and I’m proud of us.”

The Redwings, who defeated Lockport in the state semifinal, wasn’t able to slow down the big-hitting RedHawks (36-5) in the state final. Led by a group of Power 4 commits, the RedHawks needed just 48 minutes to knock off Benet. Leading 13-11 in the first set, Benet fell victim to a service error that opened up the door for six consecutive points for Marist that shifted the momentum of the match.

“(Marist) was on the net way more than we were,” Baker said. “They have a lot of options and pass extremely well and ball control was really well. …(Marist) played really well.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/my-suburban-life/2025/11/16/marist-beats-benet-in-4a-state-final-for-second-year-in-a-row/