Can Cary-Grove finish it?
Class 4A state semifinals
When: Today, 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Where: Redbird Arena, Illinois State University
The matchups: Lyons Township (39-1) vs. York (34-4); Cary-Grove (40-0) vs. Edwardsville (31-8)
Advancement: Losers meet for third place Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; winners play for championship Saturday at 9 p.m.
Semifinal outlook: Finish it. That's the attitude Cary-Grove takes into the state finals. And why not? The confident Trojans, the defending champs, are 40-0 and have won 56 straight. Heck, the last time they lost to an Illinois team Hampshire and former Cary-Grove star-now Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse was Oct. 1 of last season. That's 59 straight against Illinois competition. In the past 54 matches, they've been taken to 3 games just three times. Prepvolleyball.com and ESPN Rise continue to anoint the school with less than 2,000 students the nation's best high school girls volleyball team. In fact, some observers have mentioned this Cary-Grove squad could be one of the best in Illinois history. Only the great Mother McAuley teams of the late 1970s and early '80s that won 135 straight matches has a better consecutive win streak than Cary-Grove. “This whole national thing has taken it to another level,” admits 16th-year Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis, who has done a masterful job of keeping her girls focused throughout the winning streak. And Langanis says the Trojans are ready to defend their crown. “I feel like we're very prepared,” she said. “We've worked hard this week in practice, we know what to expect and we know what to expect from the other team.”
The line on Cary-Grove: The Trojans, simply, are as deep and talented a high school team as you'll ever find. It all starts with their three Division I recruits 6-foot outside Kelly Lamberti (Ohio), 6-foot setter Colleen Smith (Indiana) and 6-foot outside Allison Whimpey (Tennessee-Martin). Lamberti, the honorary captain of the Daily Herald's Fox Valley All-Area team, has 287 kills and 199 digs for the season and is the program's all-time kills leader (1,261). Whimpey has 126 kills and 6-1 middle Ashley Rosch has 158, along with 89 digs. Smith has dished out 682 assists and runs the Trojans' offense with precision. Junior outside Melanie Jereb has contributed 115 kills and standout senior libero Sam Mainzer leads the team with 219 digs.
The line on Edwardsville: The Tigers, from southern Illinois, are somewhat of an unknown, but they did come north for the St. Charles East tournament, where they beat Naperville Central and Prairie Ridge but lost to Neuqua Valley, Joliet Catholic and Incarnate Word of St. Louis. They also suffered 3 losses to Class 3A finalist Breese Mater Dei. Edwardsville has two Division I recruits in 6-1 middle Maddie Croft (Belmont) and 6-foot junior Sam Epenesa (Purdue), who has team-highs in kills (385) and digs (247). Croft has 263 kills. Junior libero Tori Gusewelte has 355 digs and junior setter Alexandria Gober has 863 assists.”They're very athletic and they're definitely a talented team,” said Langanis. “It will be a good match.” Edwardsville is in a state final tournament for the first time
Hittin' the road: As soon as Cary-Grove dispatched of Stevenson Saturday in the Barrington supersectional, Langanis and her coaches hit the road for Normal where they were able to see Edwardsville beat Hinsdale South in the supersectional that night. And with some video help from District 155 sister school Prairie Ridge and coach Stefanie Otto, Langanis was confident to say, “We feel like we have a lot of information on them and we're very prepared.”
Been there, done that, there to do it again: Cary-Grove senior standout Kelly Lamberti says she and her team are more than ready to defend their title. “Last year we had no idea what to expect,” said Lamberti. “This year we know. We know all the teams are going to be very good and that we just need to focus and play our game. We take every team as if they're the better team so we have to work hard to beat them.”
That feeling: Lamberti said she never dreamed of a 40-0 season heading into the state finals. “It's very surreal,” she said. “I knew we could get back downstate but I never would have believed we'd be No. 1 in the country and undefeated. We are going to play so hard down there and just leave it all on the court.”
Week-by-week: Langanis has stressed all season that her team just takes things week by week and works on weekly goals. “They're very businesslike and that's because of our assistant coach, Ray Rugebregt. He's the businessman,” Langanis said. “We feel if we're working to achieve our goals the final result will be what we want it to be.”
But ...: Langanis does agree it's different this year. “It's a different feel, yes,” she said. “It's not like ‘Yeah, we made it downstate.' We have a job to finish. The expectations from our team and our community are higher this year. But they're an intelligent group of girls. I have to sit back and trust they know how to deal with it. They know the plan and they know the script. I don't' sense any pressure. They seem exactly the same as they were at the beginning of the year. They've worked diligently to keep their composure and they know if they stick to the plan we can be celebrating Saturday night.”
Inside York vs. Lyons Township: The Dukes (36-4) are hoping that the third time is the charm. Lyons (39-1), ranked No. 10 in the nation by prepvolleyball.com and last year's Cary-Grove victim in the championship match, won two three-game matches against York during the regular season. York is in the state semifinals for the first time in school history, although Dukes coach Patty Iverson is familiar with Redbird Arena. She led Maine South to a third-place finish in 2003. Dukes junior outside Caroline Rose is her team's go-to hitter with 334 kills, despite standing just 5-foot-6. Emily Iverson and Katie Gallagher are a dynamic 1-2 punch at setter and also hit in the front row. Gallagher and Dukes middle Morgan Semmelhack play club with Lyons stars Jocelynn Birks and Alexis Viliunas; Iverson has played club with Lyons' middles. The Lions' only loss is to Marist, and they avenged that with a supersectional win last Saturday. Illinois recruit Birks at 6-3 is one of the best outsides in the state and has 431 kills. Lyons 6-foot junior setter Viliunas, also verbaled to Illinois, missed the first 20 matches, and both matches against York, with a broken wrist. The Lions are undefeated since her return. Outside Laura Williams is another Lyons player to watch.
Coach's keys: Iverson doesn't think her team needs to do anything differently the third time around to beat Lyons. They just have to play stronger. “We've been playing well the last few weeks,” she said, “and now we have to do it down here on the big court. We know we have to play our ‘A' game. We know Lyons is a good team.” York has already taken care of one nemesis in the playoffs, beating St. Charles East in the sectional final after losing to the Saints the last two years. “Coming back against St. Charles was wonderful. That shows we're playing tough,” Iverson said, “and with a lot of heart.” Iverson has already been asked in jest if Lyons and York should just settle things in Hinsdale rather than make the long trip south. In all seriousness she's OK with playing a familiar opponent at state. “Do we know exactly what they're going to do? No,” Iverson said, “but there shouldn't be any surprises.”