Girls Volleyball: Xavier recruit Annie Eschenbach helps power Benet past Barrington to Class 4A final

NORMAL – Annie Eschenbach had one goal remaining to achieve for her final season.

The Benet senior middle hitter entered the season with her future already secured. She selected Xavier as her next volleyball destination.

Yet, Eschenbach’s career was missing one key element – a trip to the Class 4A state championship game.

Considering the Redwings recent history – eight state appearances, four state championships and 554 victories in the last 16 seasons – Eschenbach was motivated to end Benet’s short state title drought which dated back to 2019.

Eschenbach is now one match away from reaching her goal following Friday’s state semifinal.

The Redwings rode a strong overall effort to post a 25-21, 25-16 victory over Barrington in a 4A state semifinal on Friday night at Redbird Arena. Benet (37-4) won its 10th consecutive match to advance to Saturday’s 8:55 p.m. title match against the winner of Mother McAuley and St. Charles East.

Benet senior Kirsten Krammer played strong at the net, recording 10 kills to help snare the momentum away from a scrappy Barrington team late in the first set. Audrey Asleson chipped in with 19 assists, three kills and six digs, and Gabjia Staniskis collected seven kills and two digs. Aniya Warren extended several rallies with memorable dives to finish with a match-high 16 digs.

“It means a lot because Benet has very high standards, so it means a lot to be here,” Eschenbach said of reaching the title match. “We’re all really good friends and really close. It feels really good to make it to the finals and have a chance to win the title.”

Victory No. 555 was special for Benet coach Brad Baker, prompting him to end Friday’s five-minute press conference by pounding his fists on the table and yelling “Let’s go” in regards to winning a state championship on Saturday. The Redwings, who beat Wheaton Warrenville South in the 2019 4A state title match, ended Barrington’s quest to win its first state championship and handed the Fillies (39-2) just their second defeat of the season.

“It feels great because this is what you do: come here Friday night and play for the championship the next day,” Baker said. “It gets better every time getting here. There’s different challenges every year. We had a week’s span (last week) where I’m not sure if we would be standing here.”

Barrington coach Michelle Jakubowski admitted it’s disappointing to lose in the semifinals for the second straight season. The Fillies had a dominating season but fell short of their ultimate goal and have to settle for attempting to collect their second consecutive third-place trophy.

“We let the first set get away from us,” Jakubowski said. “We had an opportunity to take that set. We had two free balls we didn’t win…We were right there. We passed really well early, which allowed us to run an offense and do some good things. Our serve-receive broke down in the first set. That first set took a lot out of us. We kind of let some things get away from us, and had a big breakdown in the second set again in serve-receive.

“When we were in system, you could see what Jessica [Horwath] could do. She was unstoppable. Berkeley [Ploder] did a great job blocking and running the offense, and Hope [Regas] was out of system all the time doing what she could do get the ball over.”

The matchup between the two heavyweight programs was a classic, especially in the first set. The two teams combined for several inspiring digs for long rallies, but the turning point in the match came in the first set after Benet pulled ahead to break open a 17-17 deadlock. Warren had a key ace to pad the lead to 21-18, and the Redwings never looked back. They quickly gained the momentum in the second set, helped by a stuffed block by Asleson at the net and an ace from Ava Novak for a 15-8 lead.

The Fillies were led by Horwath (11 kills, four digs) and Regas (five kills, three digs) but just couldn’t overcome Benet’s overall size and length. Asleson had two aces in a key surge late in the second set to power the Redwings to the title match. Horwath, an Arizona beach volleyball recruit, was a force, pumping her fists strongly after nearly every kill, but the Redwings’ proved to be too much to handle.

“We had high expectations this year, and everyone rose to the occasion, and we know [Saturday] we everyone is going to bring it,” Horwath said.