Cary-Grove snags prestigious Asics crown
Winning the Class 4A state title in 2009 was undeniably big.
What the Cary-Grove girls volleyball team accomplished Saturday was even bigger, in the Trojans' opinion.
Seeded No. 2 at the prestigious Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley, Cary-Grove swept matches against the host Mighty Macs, undefeated Marist and three-time defending Challenge champion Assumption of Louisville, Ky., to claim the tournament title.
"I think it's the biggest win in Cary-Grove history," coach Patty Langanis said after beating Assumption 25-23, 25-18. "The state title was big, but this is something different, something really big. This is the national stage. This is where Cary-Grove's name gets on the map. I don't think in previous years people around the country would have known who Cary-Grove is.
"At least for this year, people are going to know who we are."
The 3 victories over nationally respected private-school programs upped Cary-Grove's record to 24-0 and ran the public-school's unbeaten streak to 40 straight matches the sixth-longest winning streak in Illinois history, according to IHSA records.
The Trojans had to overcome a significant deficit in one game of each match.
Against Mother McAuley (14-5), Cary-Grove won the first game 25-16 but fell behind 13-4 in Game 2. Unfazed, the Trojans reeled off a 13-4 run to knot the score at 17 and eventually won 25-22.
"We always play in the moment," senior libero Sam Mainzer said. "We work for each point. We know it's not going to be easy, but we go back to the basics when we're having troubles and everything just comes back to us."
Mother McAuley went on to win the gold division consolation championship and took fifth place overall.
Next up was a semifinal against Marist, the team that skipped over Cary-Grove and into the top spot in the rankings of one Chicago newspaper this week. The Trojans blitzed the previously undefeated Redhawks 25-7 in Game 1. Senior hitter Kelly Lamberti opened the match with 2 powerful spikes and the Trojans riddled the normally strong Marist serve receive for 5 aces in the first game.
"Our forte really is serve-receive and defense, and we just didn't do that job very well in that game," Marist coach Natalie Holder said. "(Cary-Grove) did a really great job. They're a very strong team."
The Trojans fell behind 10-4 in the second game but rallied behind the serve of Melanie Jereb, who served 6 straight points. Game 2 was tied at 19 before the Trojans scored 4 straight points, capped by block kills from Mallory Wilczynski and setter Colleen Smith. Ali Whimpey's spike on match point gave the Trojans a 25-21 win and the sweep.
Marist (25-2) finished fourth in the tournament after losing the third-place match to No. 1 overall seed Berkeley Prep (16-2) from Tampa, Fla.
Title match opponent Assumption (27-4) posed the greatest threat to Cary-Grove with six players already committed to major college programs: outside hitters Jeni Houser (Notre Dame), Laura Purcell (Loyola) and Claire Gerwig (Western Michigan); libero Jackie Napper (Kentucky); and setters Courtney Robison (Alabama) and Katie George (St. Louis).
Not only had the Rockets won the last three Challenge titles, they had won 10 of the last 14. Yet, Cary-Grove didn't blink.
The Trojans fell behind 12-7 in Game 1, but 5 of Lamberti's 13 kills willed the Trojans back into the match. Her swing against a double block fell for a point and tied the game at 19. It was tied at 22 when Lamberti tipped a ball over the block for a point and Smith followed with a jump-serve ace for some cushion. Lamberti's tip on game point was lifted by Assumption.
Game 2 was just as competitive, featuring 9 ties before the Trojans pulled away with a tip kill from Jereb, an ace from Whimpey and a smart tip kill of a high pass by Smith.
"This was a really fun match to play in," said the Indiana-bound Smith, who finished the Challenge with 78 assists. "Assumption is so scrappy, but we definitely found ways around their defense, so that was really exciting."
Jereb crushed another spike to open an 18-14 lead. Lamberti punctuated the historic victory by notching her team's final 4 points on big swings, giving her 48 kills on the day to go with 33 digs.
"(Lamberti) is a great player," Robison said. "That whole team's very talented. They hit the ball well and they move the ball around well. It's hard to block a team that has a set of hitters like that. You never know where it's going. They definitely know how to put a ball away."
Lamberti said she wanted to use her talent to make a statement for her team and her school.
"We wanted to come out and prove a point in this tournament, show people that we can compete with the top teams in the country and that we should be one of the top teams in the country," the Ohio University recruit said. "It's awesome."
CL South at Asics: The Gators suffered three tough losses at the Asics Challenge Saturday, falling to Joliet Catholic 25-14, 23-25, 25-19, then to Lone Peak (Utah) 21-25, 25-15, 28-26, and then to Notre Dame Academy (Ky.) 25-23, 26-24. Emmy Oraham had 57 assists for CLS, while Hannah Burkle had 27 kills and 8 blocks and Katie Meyer 16 digs.