Dayton recruit Morgan Asleson demonstrates skills, helps send Benet past WW South into sectional final

AURORA – When you play next to one of the best liberos in the country, it’s easy to get overlooked.

Defensive specialist Morgan Asleson finds herself in that situation at Benet, where Purdue-bound Aniya Warren regularly wows crowds with her outstanding play.

But Asleson is not underappreciated.

“She doesn’t get overlooked in our gym,” Benet coach Brad Baker said. “We know how good she is.

“We realize how lucky we are to have her and she’s an outstanding player.”

Asleson demonstrated that Tuesday. The Dayton recruit led all players with 15 digs and 13 service points to lift the top-seeded Redwings to a 25-14, 25-14 victory over fifth-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South in the Class 4A West Aurora Sectional semifinal.

Benet (37-1) advanced to play second-seeded St. Charles North (32-6) in the sectional final at 6 p.m. Thursday.

After Wheaton Warrenville South (24-13) grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the first set, a Tigers error gave the serve to Asleson, who ripped off 10 consecutive points. She capped the run with an ace to give the Redwings a 12-4 cushion.

“Morgan is very precise on her serves and very consistent, so that really helps us,” Benet middle hitter Gabby Stasys said. “I think all our serving was really good today, but Morgan got that good run for us and then after that we kind of had a steady match the rest of the time.”

Long serving streaks rarely are seen in sectional matches, but Asleson would not take all the credit.

“I just knew where it was working best to get them out of system and I think we defended the serve well when it came back to us,” Asleson said. “So we were able to keep building momentum off of every point.”

Baker agreed.

“You’ve got to have a whole team to do that,” Baker said. “You’ve got to have the defense playing well. You’ve got to be able to block well. And obviously at this point everyone kind of knows who you want to serve [to] and she was doing a good job of that also.”

Asleson doesn’t waste time when serving.

“I try to do it fast and try to float it and keep it low,” Asleson said. “Sometimes we go back and hit like a 50-50 serve so it looks like it’s going, but then it kind of drops.”

Asleson’s serving was contagious. The Redwings held a 6-2 edge in aces over the Tigers.

“We practiced the tough serving, for sure, but I also think a big thing was kind of just the nerves of the game,” Wheaton Warrenville South right-side hitter Lauren Coyne said. “We’ve seen Benet before and we prepared well enough. There were things, unfortunately, that were left out on the table, but they’re a really good team.”

Coyne, Cate Cassin and Zoe Dragas had three kills each to lead the Tigers, who were competitive early in the second set.

Benet used an 8-2 run to pull away. Stasys, who led all players with eight kills, broke a 6-all tie with a block and Warren followed with an ace.

Middle hitter Lynney Tarnow had six kills and two blocks for Benet, which got five kills from Brooklynne Brass and three kills and 21 assists from setter Audrey Asleson.

“We feel good,” Morgan Asleson said. “Every game we keep getting more and more momentum and excitement.”