Lyons stuns Cary-Grove for 4A title
NORMAL -- The euphoria of a state championship at Redbird Arena a year ago, and the anticipation of a repeat performance, turned to tears of disappointment for the Cary-Grove girls volleyball team here Saturday night.
Cary-Grove saw its 57-match win streak and undefeated season come to an end when the Trojans lost to Lyons Township, 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, in a dramatic and pressure-packed Class 4A state championship match.
Cary-Grove came into the match ranked No. 1 in the nation by prepvolleyball.com; Lyons was ranked No. 10. Cary-Grove had beaten Lyons in 2 games for the 2009 state title.
“Lyons played phenomenal tonight,” said 16th-year Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis. “We tried to press too hard and we made some uncharacteristic errors. There were some times when we could have cashed it in but we never did.
“But when you think about the pressure these girls have had on them all year, I think we handled the whole thing with incredible class. We had the cards stacked against us tonight but Lyons came out and played great volleyball and they deserve what they got.”
Lyons, which won its third state title (1975 and 1989 were the others) and second under coach Joann Pyritz, showed through the course of the match that it was determined to avenge last year's loss to the Trojans on this same stage.
“Our team was more tournament savvy this year,” Pyritz said. “The second time down here took the edge off. Redbird Arena can be very intimidating but our players have developed and enhanced their skills and our leaders have developed as well.”
The Trojans (41-1) started the match on a good note, racing out to a 4-0 lead. But with Cary-Grove ahead 5-2 Lyons (41-1) asserted itself and with senior Erin Juley at the service line, the Lions scored 5 straight points to take a 7-5 lead. A serve out of bounds made it 7-6 but a kill from Illinois recruit Jocelynn Birks gave Lyons a side out and an 8-6 advantage., Birks then served 2 aces and Lyons got a kill from junior Laura Williams to move out to a 12-6 lead.
Cary-Grove found its game after a time out, though, and eventually battled its way into a 13-13 tie when senior Kelly Lamberti took a set from classmate Colleen Smith to pound home one of her championship-match record 21 kills.
Lyons moved ahead 16-14 on an ace serve from junior Alexis Viliunas, who had 17 digs in the match, and eventually moved its advantage to 21-17 and 22-18 before Cary-Grove came back to make it 22-21 on a Lamberti kill. Each team had service errors to make it a 23-22 game, Lyons went ahead 24-22 on a Cary-Grove net violation, but an over-the-back tip by Smith made it 24-23. The Trojans, though, couldn't tie it up and Lyons won Game 1 on a Williams kill from the left side.
“Winning that first game gave us a lot of confidence,” Pyritz said. “We knew coming in here that Cary-Grove was a great team and well deserving of their ranking but we had nothing to lose.”
Game 2 was much more to Cary-Grove's liking. Even though it stayed close throughout, the Trojans had much more control of the volleyball and never let Lyons go on a run. In fact, the first streak of Game 2 came when, with the game tied at 13-13, senior libero Sam Mainzer (19 digs) stepped to the service line and parlayed a kill from Melanie Jereb and two from Ashley Rosch, then 2 aces, and another kill from senior Allison Whimpey to a 19-13 Trojan lead. And even though Lyons bounced back and made it 19-17 and 21-19, the game belonged to Cary-Grove, which won it when Lyons was called for a hitting violation off a Jereb serve.
Game 3 was, simply, a classic. Cary-Grove led early, Lyons nabbed an advantage midway through, Cary-Grove fought back. But at 14-12 Lyons, the Lions went on a mini-run that left the Trojans chasing the lead the rest of the game a chase they couldn't win. They fell behind 18-13 when they were called for a hitting violation. It was 18-16, 19-17, 20-18, 22-20, 23-22 and 24-23 before a Cary-Grove hit out of bounds gave Lyons the state championship, and for all intents and purposes, the mythical national title as well.
“We had an opportunity to shut the door but we kept pressing harder than we needed to,” said Langanis, “and that was uncharacteristic for us.”
“We came out and proved that you don't have to be noticed a lot and you can still come out on top,” said Birks, who in addition to her 18 kills had 9 digs. “This year our team was much closer and we had great team chemistry off the court that transferred onto the court.”
Lamberti, the Ohio University signee who had 12 digs and set a Class 4A state tournament record with 33 total kills in the two matches, gave Lyons credit despite the bitter disappointment she and her teammates had to endure during the awards ceremony.
“They came out strong and scrappy,” she said of the Lions. “They're a great team and they really wanted to beat us. They didn't do anything special, things just weren't clicking for us.”
Smith, who will play at Indiana next year, closed her stellar Cary-Grove career with 32 assists, 4 kills and 5 digs.
“They definitely played a good game,” she said of Lyons. “They were fired up and they were scrappy. We weren't playing Trojan volleyball, but we played our hearts out and fought for every point.
“We had a great run and it's been an awesome experience but this was a heartbreaking loss for us.”