Both sets were heavily contested, but last night just wasn’t the night for the Naperville North girls volleyball team, as they fell to Benet Academy by a combined six points.

The Naperville North Huskies (31-7, 6-2) were defeated by the Benet Academy Redwings (34-5, 7-1) in straight sets with final scores of 25-21 and 26-24.

Head coach Caitlin Callaghan reflects on the neck-and-neck match against a Redwings team that has won 22 out of their past 23 matches, including a six-game win streak.

“I was really proud of the way the girls played tonight,” Callaghan said. “We know that Benet is a really strong team and they’ve had a lot of success this season. I thought we played them pretty well.”

The girls were able to thrive throughout the season, despite the team having to adjust to the new team dynamic, as there were only five returning players from the varsity level.  

“[With only] five returners coming back this season, we had a lot of newcomers that had to get acclimated to the pace of the game,” Callaghan said. “We continued to improve throughout the season and we played our best volleyball when it mattered the most so we are really happy with the result.”

This year’s seniors had two tasks at hand: performing well on the court and mentoring the underclassmen for the seasons to come.

“Our younger players gained a lot of valuable experience from our seniors that they can take with them as they advance through the program,” Callaghan said.

The Huskies finished the season with a overall 35-7 record, finished with a DVC-leading 6-2 conference record as well as winning their regional this year.