Girls volleyball: Harvest will get another shot at Keith

Harvest Christian has traveled down the road to the Class 1A supersectional the past three seasons only to hit a roadblock.

The Lions are hoping to finally reach their ultimate destination when they get another chance on their home court Saturday to advance to the state finals after capturing their fourth straight sectional title with a 25-23, 25-12 win over Newark on Thursday at Westminster Christian.

"If we can play like we did tonight we have as good a chance as any," Harvest coach Kim Floyd said. "All year we have had the pieces. We have just been waiting for it to click. Tonight it finally all clicked. The hitting. The blocking. The covering. The passing. The receiving. It all came together. Saturday is going to be fun."

The Lions' opponent in the Elite Eight round will again be Keith Country Day from Rockford, the two-time defending Class 1A state champ. Keith defeated Harvest in 2 sets during the Northeastern Athletic Conference season. Saturday's supersectional is at 7 p.m.

After leading most of Game 1 and by as many as 5 points the Lions found themselves down 23-22. However, after Floyd called a timeout to rally the troops, the Lions responded by scoring the next 3 points. A tip by Ellie Burzlaff tied the game at 23-23. Burzlaff then had a block kill to give the Lions a 24-23 lead. Sophomore standout Mikayla Robinson then finished the game off with a kill.

"We just knew it would be terrible if we lost that first game," Burzlaff said. "We just told ourselves there was no way we were going to let it happen. There was no way we could let the ball hit the floor. We were going to win this no matter what it took."

The momentum carried over to Game 2. After briefly falling behind 2-0 it was all Harvest after that. The Lions connected on their final 18 kill attempts. Amanda Cassidy, Robinson, and Burzlaff all added aces.

A 6-1 run gave the Lions a 6-3 lead. Harvest closed out the match on a 15-5 run.

"Momentum is so huge in volleyball especially with the girls, " Floyd said. "The passing was so key. Shayna (Manusos), Jade (Martinez), and Amanda played a big role in bringing that all together and getting the ball to where it needed to be."

And more often than not the ball wound up with Robinson, who knocked down a game-high 12 kills.

"I am so proud of the way we played tonight," Robinson said. "We were just able to keep the momentum going in our favor."

Burzlaff added 6 kills for the Lions.

"We finally played to our potential tonight," Burzlaff said. "We were able to utilize our hitters. After we took that first game you could just feel the energy take over the gym. This win is overwhelming and we are just really excited about Saturday. We really think we can do it this time."

The past 3 years the Lions have lost in the supersectionals to the eventual state champions. For seniors like libero Jade Martinez Saturday is one last chance at redemption.

"I actually feel like this year there is a little less pressure," Martinez said. "There were more expectations the last couple years. I think this year we have been more of an underdog. But we have a lot of fight in us."

Murray had 25 assists for the Lions. Cassidy and Martinez each had a team high 9 digs.