Girls Volleyball: Jessica Parker celebrates milestone mark, helps lead St. Charles North past Rosary

ST. CHARLES – Jessica Parker didn’t know her prematch surprise was coming.

Parker, St. Charles North’s senior setter, achieved a mark no one in the 22-year history of St. Charles North High School girls volleyball had done – she hit 1,000 career assists.

The achievement came during her final match as a junior.

Parker’s 1,000 career assist mark was formally recognized before the North Stars’ 25-13, 25-13 sweep over Rosary to kick off this season.

Luckily for Parker, she has an entire season to build on the mark.

“I’m proud of myself, but I also think I want to keep going and set the record forever so no one gets close to it,” Parker said. “But it’s really exciting.”

St. Charles North coach Lindsay Hawkins has coached Parker since she was 11. By this point, there’s plenty of trust in Parker putting the ball in the right spot for an attack.

“I think there’s just a comfort level,” Hawkins said. “She can look at me when something is going wrong. Actually, usually, she instinctively knows what she did wrong, so I rarely have to tell her. She’s a great player. I get a lot of comments from coaches sometimes saying, ‘Wow, she fakes us out.’ Sometimes, I forget how good she is because I have been on her a lot since she was young. So sometimes, I have to catch myself and take myself back and say yeah, she is really good.”

Among the other top returners for the North Stars is junior Katie Scherer, who verbally committed to Maryland over the summer.

Scherer had four kills Monday.

“She just spent a lot of time playing all over the country for different teams,” Hawkins said. “She is awesome. She’s always been solid for us. But right now, what’s really great for us is just her all-around game, her back row game. Her passing is phenomenal. She’s probably our best passer and having her be able to hit out of the back row is hard to defend.”

Freshman outside hitter Hayley Burgdorf had eight kills and two aces in her varsity debut for the North Stars (1-0).

“Her vertical is so high and then she touches super high,” Hawkins said. “She’s hitting the ball at a very high contact. She’s got that ‘It factor’ where she demands the ball and she’s got a presence on the court even as a 14-year-old that you don’t see very often.”

“This summer was the first time we really saw her,” Parker said of Burgdorf. “She came into summer camp and we all just started clicking with her right away. I don’t know. I think [Hayley and I] definitely have a special connection when it comes to setting her. I can set her fastballs and she always kills it.”

Rosary (0-1) returns six from last season’s varsity team. Kylie Loquercio, who had 431 kills last season, graduated. Senior setter Sarah Schmidt, outside hitter Jessica Hirner, libero Lola Blankenheim and middle Megan Lanan return for a program that looks to have a strong season.

“Really, it only goes up from here,” Royals coach Franky Martinez said. “We are in a new conference [Girls Catholic Athletic Conference], so right now, it’s kind of an anomaly in that sense. We just have to go out there and figure out what the conference is bringing to the table. But this is a team that is very much looking for growth this season.”

The Royals were led by four kills from Lanan and two kills and two aces from Claire McEniry.

“That is why we play the regular season, to seed us for the playoffs,” Martinez said. “We’re very much working toward that. Today, yes, even though it was a tough loss, all of it is to build toward the end of the season.”