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'Fun, exciting' semifinal ends in Timothy Christian defeat

NORMAL - Timothy Christian coach Scott Piersma labeled his team's first set in the Class 2A volleyball semifinal as "fun, exciting and tight."

Then came the first 13 points of the second set for Timothy Christian. Twelve of them could have been called anything but fun for the Trojans as Bloomington Central Catholic raced to a 12-1 lead to beat Timothy 25-22, 25-21 on Friday at Redbird Arena.

"They started pushing on us, and that got in everybody's head and we started to get down a little bit," Piersma said. "When you look at the box score, you see a good match. We fought hard to get back in it, and that's a credit to our ladies."

Timothy Christian (36-5) will face Shelbyville (37-4) in the Class 2A third-place game at about 1:55 p.m. Saturday.

"It's an honor to be the first volleyball team from our school to be here," said junior outside hitter Kendra Teune, who led the Trojans with 12 kills. "The energy from the arena was such a cool experience."

The Saints (34-5) extended their winning streak to 25, which includes a two-set victory over Class 4A qualifier Normal Community.

"They are a very well-rounded team," Piersma said. "They got a lot of kills from a lot of girls. They are one of the better teams we've played all year and not like a lot of smaller schools that rely on one or two girls."

Bloomington Central Catholic had 9 services aces and got 5 or more kills from three players, set up by 20 assists from Wake Forest recruit Maddie Holt.

Senior Dani Van Laten led Timothy with 22 assists. Junior Zoe Stanton had 8 kills. Senior middle hitter Ava Venema added 8 kills as she and Teune each surpassed the 300-kill plateau for the season.

Teune had 7 of her kills in the first set as the two teams played within one point of each other until Bloomington Central Catholic ran off three in a row for a 22-19 lead. Teune had back-to-back kills to rally Timothy back to within 23-22, but Bloomington Central Catholic's Maddie Malinowski hammered home consecutive kills to win the set.

Despite the early hole in the second set, the Trojans rallied to cut the deficit to 21-17 following a Saints timeout. But junior outside hitter Kate Hoerdemann answered with two kills to finish the win.

"It wasn't until we finally had enough that we responded," Piersma said. "They didn't want to get embarrassed out there and fought hard to get back in it. It was disappointing to see us start the way we did in Game 2, but, man, it was impressive to see how we played until the end."

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