It was hard to tell this was Haley Burgdorf’s first postseason match.
The freshman outside hitter was her usual dominant self Tuesday night for St. Charles North in a Class 4A South Elgin Regional semifinal against Streamwood.
“She doesn’t care who’s across the net from her,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “Her goal is, ‘Playoffs, it’s go time. We’re going to get this done.’
“That’s a really rare thing to see, especially from a freshman. You see that, and it makes me very excited for her future.”
Her future may be bright, but the present is pretty good, too. Burgdorf put down a match-high eight kills as top-seeded St. Charles North cruised to a 25-12, 25-12 victory.
The North Stars (28-8) will face DeKalb at 6 p.m. Thursday in the regional championship match. The Barbs (12-20) topped South Elgin 25-21, 25-23 in the other semifinal.
How about that?
“It was fun,” Burgdorf said. “I was excited to get on the court, especially to play with these teammates and really get to test one another and really go at it.”
Burgdorf and Maryland-bound junior outside Katherine Scherer have formed a potent offensive duo. Scherer added four kills and two blocks Tuesday for the North Stars.
For the season, Burgdorf now has 238 kills, followed by Scherer with 237. And while the focus is on continuing to win, there’s a nice competition going on between the two.
“It’s a really good dynamic,” Scherer said. “It’s great to have another person I can rely on for support, especially during practice. We always compete with each other, and it’s a healthy competition.”
Burgdorf quickly gravitated to Scherer when the season started.
“I love to see her go up and have me follow her because I like to learn different things and learn how I can get better,” Burgdorf said of getting kills. “Just have a fun time with her.”
Scherer took Burgdorf under her wing from the start of the season.
“I watch her from the back row go up and get a huge kill and go crazy,” Scherer said. “It’s great to have multiple weapons on the team.”
Streamwood (5-29) tried to slow them down by playing as stout a defense as it could.
Alejandra Caballero Mondragon led the Sabres with seven digs, while Kaleigh Allender had six. Allender and Kaitlin Culli paced the offense with three kills apiece.
“I knew they were going to have some big guns and we were ready for it,” Streamwood coach Michele Mueller said. “We decided we were going to play some great defense, challenge them to swing two, three, four times to earn their kill.
“They frustrated their hitters a little bit and that was the game plan — control what we can control.”
While the statistics are nearly identical across the board for Burgdorf and Scherer, Hawkins sees the unique qualities in each player.
“Haley really looks up to Katie,” Hawkins said. “Haley also has that mentality where she’s going to come out and kill no matter what. She’s got that going for her.
“Katie just has the raw skill and talent. They bring different talents, but it’s nice to have them, especially when they’re both in the front row.”
The North Stars also talked about the pressure that comes with being a top seed.
Hawkins addressed that situation Tuesday by bringing in members of St. Charles North’s state championship softball team to talk to her players before the match.
“Every day you have to get better and every day could be the last, so you better embrace it and cherish it and you better go after it,” Hawkins said. “It was a very good message.
“They were near tears and they were inspired. It was awesome.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.