Cary-Grove serves overpower DeKalb

The DeKalb girls volleyball team had every reason to enter Tuesday's Class 4A Jacobs sectional semifinal confidently.

The Barbs had already won 31 matches, had gone undefeated in winning the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference and were fresh off their first regional title victory since being elevated from Class 3A to 4A.

Such pedigrees matter little to Cary-Grove, the top-ranked high school girls volleyball team in the United States, according to prevolleyball.com and ESPN Rise.

The defending Class 4A state champion Trojans, a team that has made some of the best squads in the country look downright silly at times during its 54-match winning streak, served the Barbs right out of the gym in a 25-9, 25-14 victory.

Senior setter Colleen Smith served 6 aces, senior hitter Lauren Lamberti added 4 aces and junior middle Ashley Rosch served 3 aces as the Trojans blitzed the Barbs from start to finish to advance to their second straight sectional title match.

Cary-Grove (38-0) will face Hononegah (24-10) for the Jacobs sectional title on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“We practice serving every day for at least 20 minutes, probably even longer,” Lamberti said. “We just work on different angles and different shots. We're such a hard-serving team. They have a very good libero and awesome hitters all the way around, but I think our serving really kept us ahead in this game.”

The Trojans jumped to a 3-1 lead on 2 kills and an ace from Lamberti, but the real fireworks were lit when Smith stepped to the service line with a 12-8 lead.

Smith's jump serves, which break with more action than a Tim Lincecum curveball, resulted in 5 aces in 8 serves as the Trojans finished off Game 1 on a 13-1 run.

“We know we need to be focused behind the line because every point means something,” Smith said. “We definitely stepped up with our serving and had a ton of aces. We put a whole lot into serving into practice. It all pays off in the end.”

Game 2 was another wipeout. The Barbs took a 2-1 lead on a Courtney Thomas back-row kill, but the Trojans responded with a 9-1 run to take command, highlighted by 2 booming kills from Ali Whimpey (4 kills) and a pretty tip kill from Smith, who finished with 14 assists and 6 digs.

The potent DeKalb offense was unable to uncoil due to the tenacious serving of the Trojans.

“It's tough because if you don't get a good pass, it's hard to run your offense,” DeKalb hitter Emily Bemis said. “That's what we struggled with. They're a really good serving team.”

The match ended as it began, with Lamberti blasting a kill through the heart of the DeKalb defense.

“I felt the girls did a great job tonight staying focused and fighting for every point,” Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis said. “DeKalb is a great team and we knew we were going to have trouble with them, but we rose to a whole ‘nother level tonight.”