Hampshire seeking first sectional championship
The Hampshire girls volleyball team can make history tonight.
The school has never earned a sectional title in the sport, but the Whip-Purs enter tonight's Class 2A Byron sectional with a golden opportunity to walk away with hardware.
Seeded No. 1 in its sub-sectional, Hampshire (33-3), will face No. 6 Forreston (27-11) in tonight's second semifinal at 6 p.m.
The first semifinal at 5 p.m. pits No. 2 Rockford Christian Life (25-7) against No. 4 Oregon, which upset Lena-Winslow on its home court to win a regional title.
The winners will square off at 7:15 p.m. for the right to advance to Monday's Hampshire supersectional against the winner of the Luther North sectional
Hampshire is talented, deep and experienced. The Whips returned five starters from last season's second straight regional title team, a group that finished 26-9.
The offensive attack is directed by sophomore setter Kara Wehrs, who has the luxury of setting senior outside hitter Jena Karkos, returning starting middles Jackie Clai and Amber Ladwig and her twin sister Amy, who has developed into one of the area's most consistent outside hitters.
The defense is bolstered by senior libero Jen Kondrat and versatile senior Kim Kartheiser, who can dig, hit -- even set if necessary.
The Whip-Purs defeated Forreston 25-12, 25-19 in early September en route to winning the Oregon Tournament title, which seems like years ago to the Whips.
"We did beat them once, but this is tournament time," Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse said. "All the teams have improved since then. I would hope we've improved since then.
"I think sectionals is going to be tough. All the teams we'll see from here on out are tough teams and you can't look past any of them."
Forreston coach Rick Manus said after losing to Hampshire early in the season that the Whip-Purs looked like a team destined to reach state.
"I want to prove myself wrong now," Manus joked this week. "They were playing pretty solid early but now our team has peaked at the right time and I feel we're ready for them. At that point in time we weren't ready for too many teams."
Manus said Forreston's slow start was due to his early season practice regimen, which focused heavily for the first two weeks on conditioning rather than volleyball drills.
But the Cardinals picked it up later in the season behind a trio of school record-setters: outside-hitter and co-captain Morgan Johnson broke the school record for kills (253) and serves with a 93-percent accuracy; senior co-captain Carly Blask, a libero, broke the school record for 493 digs; and second-year varsity setter Kayla Engle, a junior, notched a school record 750 assists in Forreston's 5-1 offense.
Another key player for the Cardinals is outside hitter Kayla Edler. The senior has recorded 192 kills and has attacks with an 87-percent success rate.
Hampshire has not faced Rockford Christian Life or Oregon despite having competed in the Oregon Tournament. The teams were in opposite pools.
Christian Life is enjoying the best season in school history. The Eagles advanced to the sectional by beating St. Edward 25-16, 25-22 to win the North Boone regional, an effort spearheaded by Holly Wieresma's 7 kills.
If Hampshire does win tonight's Byron sectional, the Whips would gain a huge advantage in their downstate quest since Monday's 6 p.m. supersectional will be played on their home court against the winner of the Luther North sectional