Hampshire volleyball team finishes second in state

NORMAL - The Hampshire girls volleyball team's dream season ended 4 points shy of a state title Saturday.

Breese Central (33-8) won its second state championship in three years by outlasting the Whip-Purs 25-17, 19-25, 25-21 for the Class 2A championship at Redbird Arena.

Hampshire (38-3) had planned to serve aggressively to stymie the Breese Central (33-8) offense before its middle-hitting combination of Jessica Hemann and Lauren Budde could get going.

However, the Whips committed 9 service errors in the match, which forced them to hit from the service line less aggressively than originally intended. Hemann and Budde each notched match-bests of 11 kills as a result.

"Our serving, obviously, broke down," Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse said. "We had a hard time getting our serves in, and the serves that we were getting in were very easy, which allowed them to run their middles, run their offense.

"When we were serving aggressive like we were in Game 2, they had a tough time serve-receiving and they couldn't run that middle and couldn't run that offense. In Game 3 we had to let up to get our serves in, and they had the opportunity to run their offense."

Hemann was particularly devastating with the title up for grabs late in Game 3, which saw 9 ties and 3 lead changes.

Hemann notched kills on middle sets from Jena Norrenberns to give Breese leads of 23-20 and 24-20. Her final kill at championship point was directed into a Hampshire double block and fell to the floor to seal the victory.

"It was just a really good game," said Hampshire outside hitter Jena Karkos, who finished with 10 kills in her final match in a purple jersey. "They're a good team. I give the credit to them, but there were certain things we didn't do that they did. It could have gone either way."

The Whip-Purs trailed 9-8 in Game 1, but the Cougars pulled away with 4 straight points on a Hemann kill, an ace by Courtney Streiker and consecutive hitting errors by Hampshire. The deficit ballooned to 19-11 and the Cougars closed out the first game with consecutive aces from Streiker.

In Game 1 alone the Whips made 8 unforced errors and missed 3 serves. That performance merited a wakeup call from their coach between games.

"I said, 'This is the championship game. Play like you deserve to be here,' " Whitehouse said. "They came out and it was a different match."

Hampshire jumped to a 3-0 lead in Game 2, thanks to a pair of attack errors by Breese Central and a kill from sophomore outside hitter Amy Wehrs, who paced the Whip-Purs with 13.

"We weren't going to just give up and lay down and let them take it," Karkos said. "It's the championship match. We wanted it just as bad. In the second game we realized we're a better team than (the way) we were playing."

The Whip-Purs sent the title match to a third game when Amy Wehrs and Karkos polished off kills before Budde's attack error ended it.

Hampshire shot out to a 3-0 lead in the decisive game thanks to kills by Amy Wehrs and Jackie Clai and a Breese Central attack error. But the Cougars forged the first of nine ties courtesy of Hemann, who sandwiched an ace and a kill around a Hampshire attack error.

Hampshire pulled within a point at 18-17 when Breese was whistled for a net violation, but the Cougars scored 3 straight points on Budde's kill of an overpass, a block kill of a Karkos swing by Kati Scheer and a lifting violation against Hampshire.

The Whip-Purs fought back to within 21-20 on a Kim Kartheiser ace before Hemann's heroics sealed Breese Central's triumph.

"They're a good team, and that's the way you want the championship to be, tight in three games like that," Whitehouse said. "It was exciting. It was a great game."