Crystal Lake C, St. Francis square off in 3A
NORMAL -- Considering the lopsided nature of Crystal Lake Central's 25-17, 25-11 victory over Belleville-Althoff in a Class 3A semifinal Friday, the question had to be posed to Tigers coach Doug Blundy: Did the victory come a little easier than he thought?
"No," Blundy replied smiling, "It came a lot easier than I thought."
Crystal Lake Central, making its first downstate appearance in girls volleyball since 1989, advanced to today's Class 3A title match. The Tigers (41-0) will face defending Class AA champion St. Francis (38-3) for the title at 5:45 p.m.
Game 1 was tied 7-7 until the Tigers put a stranglehold on it with an 8-0 run, a surge sparked by a kill from Rachael Thornquist, who finished with a match-high 13 kills.
"It started off neck-and-neck," CL Central senior Carly Hayes said. "I think we knew we had to step up if we really wanted it. I think we just wanted it more."
Game 2 was never in question. The Tigers jumped to a 6-0 lead, the sixth of those points notched after a circus-like dig at the net by defensive specialist Jill Henneman. Three straight kills by Thornquist from setter Kelly Farrell (26 assists) gave the Tigers a nearly insurmountable 19-8 lead.
"We were on defense the entire time," Althoff coach Kathy Wuller said. "They are very good. I'm certainly not taking anything away from them because they definitely took us out of our game."
CL Central received key contributions from Hayes (9 kills, 8 digs), Kathryn Chrystal (4 kills in 7 attacks, 2 blocks) and Paige Economos (8 digs).
St. Francis d. Sycamore: St. Francis played like it's been here before.
Making their 15th appearance in the girls volleyball state tournament, the Spartans looked sharp from the start in sweeping Sycamore 25-17, 25-17 in the Class 3A semifinals Friday evening at Redbird Arena.
"They were ready to be here," Sycamore coach Debbie Klock said. "They've been here before. They didn't have to go through those jitters...They were very confident and we were still getting into the feel of being in that match."
St. Francis (38-3) will try to claim its ninth state title when it takes on unbeaten Crystal Lake Central (41-0), an impressive 25-17, 25-11 semifinal winner over Belleville Althoff (31-10), in the championship match at approximately 5:45 p.m. today.
For the second straight match, St. Francis received a confidence-boosting block from Megan Barnicle for the first point. The senior middle hitter followed with a kill, and Catherine Culligan spun an ace on the way to serving her team to a 5-0 lead.
"Both against Joliet Catholic and here again tonight, Megan Barnicle got a great first block," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "That really set the tone that we were hoping for."
From there, the powerful program continued to dominate as it built advantages of 15-5 and 19-8 before winning the opener on a missed serve.
In Game 2, St. Francis jumped ahead 7-3 and soon thereafter rode a 5-point run to a 14-7 advantage. Sycamore (38-3) pulled within 5 on five occasions after that, but never came closer.
St. Francis setter Michelle Kocher (23 assists) distributed the ball to her hitters with expertise. Senior Meghan Matusiak and sophomore Kelsey Robinson landed 7 kills apiece, Barnicle finished with 5 to go along with her 2 blocks, and freshman Meg Vonderhaar also had 5 kills.
Kopec liked her team's serving. Culligan reeled off 3 aces and Kocher added 1.
"I thought we served pretty well," Kopec said. "They didn't seem to be able to pass the ball as tight to the net as they probably wanted. We were able to to dig them pretty well and we had several blocks."
-- Dave Miller
Mother McAuley d. St. Charles East: The St. Charles East girls volleyball team may have lost in two games in the first game of the Class 4A state volleyball semifinals to Mother McAuley, but the Saints kept their heads up, knowing that there is still another day to play -- just not for first place.
"How can we not (enjoy this)?" St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "It's a lot of fun. We are so blessed we are here and that we've had this opportunity. It's been a great ride."
Mother McAuley topped the Saints 25-23, 25-19 and advanced to the championship match against Naperville Central. With the Saints' loss, they will play Libertyville for third place at 6:45 p.m. tonight at Redbird Arena.
The first game had three early ties before Mother McAuley scored the next 4 points behind Carli Weiler's serving, Saints errors and a kill from Lexi Weiler.
The Saints were down 14-7 and 17-10 but chipped away at Mother McAuley's lead toward the end. St. Charles East was able to tie the game three times until the Mighty Macs (34-7) capped the game with two consecutive points.
"It was a lot of nerves, but that's not how we play," Saints senior Mattie Boyd said on how the team came out in the first game. "Everyone knows that. Hopefully, we'll come out tomorrow."
St. Charles East jumped ahead 5-1 in Game 2 behind Jordan Jones' serving and Mother McAuley hitting errors. The Saints were in control for the first half of the game, yet the Mighty Macs were never far behind.
Once Mother McAuley tied the game at 14 on a St. Charles East serving error, it never let the Saints lead again. The match ended on a kill from Jessica Galotta.
"We weren't as aggressive (on offense) as we should have been," Kull said on Game 2. "We didn't keep that same composure we've had in this second season....(Mother McAuley) is a fantastic team. They kept doing what they needed to do, and we knew that coming in."
Caroline Niski led the Saints with 7 kills. Boyd finished with 5 and Haley Streich tallied 4 kills. Alex Coello had 17 digs and Laura Homann finished with 17 assists and 8 digs.
-- Christine Bolin
Naperville Central d. Libertyville: Naperville Central has been in a lot of battles this season. This wasn't one of them.
The Redhawks flexed their muscles in powering past Libertyville 25-13, 25-14 in a girls volleyball Class 4A semifinal match late Friday night at Redbird Arena.
Naperville Central (37-4) showed why it just might have the best pair of outside hitters in the state. Senior Rebecca Heath blasted 18 kills and junior Emily McGee pounded 10 in leading their team to its 22nd victory in a row.
"It's definitely a tough combination because when one goes to the back row, the next one comes up," Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said. "I do feel very lucky to have the strong outsides that I do."
Heath said she didn't seem invincible. It only seemed that way.
"They did get a lot of touches on me, but Megan (McMahon) was doing a great job of putting the ball where I needed it to be," said Heath, who made only 3 errors in hitting at a .536 efficiency. "I was just really excited to be out there."
The Redhawks will meet Mother McAuley (34-7), which earned a 25-23, 25-19 triumph over St. Charles East (28-13), for the Class 4A state title at approximately 8:15 tonight.
Expect Naperville Central to have a harder time in the championship match than it did in its semifinal. The Redhawks took a 4-1 lead in the first game, and stretched it to 14-7 and 18-8 before winning on a hitting error.
In Game 2, Naperville Central vaulted ahead 12-3 on an 8-point run behind the serving of Jill Fields and the hitting of Heath. It was 18-5 before long, and Heath eventually ended the match with a cannon-like kill off a Libertyville defensive player.
"You have to give Naperville Central a ton of credit," said Wildcats coach Chris Trzyna, whose club fell to 34-7. "They were a team that was extremely fast and quick, and they also had tremendous size for us to try to match up against. For us, it was probably one of the fastest hitting teams we've seen all season."
Tonight, Naperville Central will try to add to its 2005 Class AA state championship. McAuley has won a state record 13 state titles.
"We haven't played them this season," Isaacson said of the Mighty Macs. "We got to see them at Autumnfest and have seen them on tape. I think they're really sound defensively, but we pride ourselves on that as well so I think it should be a really great defensive match.
"I think the championship match should be really good. I think offensively we're going to try to change up some thing, do some things different, but defensively hopefully we'll look exactly the same."
-- Dave Miller