Cary-Grove to play for state title again
NORMAL -- The Cary-Grove girls volleyball team will finish the season right where it expected to be -- playing for another state championship.
The Trojans shook off a pesky squad from Edwardsville here Friday night, beating the Tigers 25-20, 25-20 in the Class 4A state semifinals at Redbird Arena.
Cary-Grove (41-0), the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, will defend its state championship at 9 p.m. Saturday against Lyons Township (40-1), the same team the Trojans beat for the 2009 state title. Lyons downed York in 3 games in Friday's first semifinal. Cary-Grove has now won 57 straight matches, the second best winning streak in Illinois girls volleyball history.
“We're really excited to have a chance at another state championship,” said Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis, nos 454-149 in her 16th season. “Getting that first match out of the way is huge and I think you'll see a much crisper match from us (Saturday).”
Senior standout Kelly Lamberti led the Trojans with 12 kills and junior Ashley Rosch had 6. Senior setter Colleen Smith dished out 26 assists.
“It feels great,” said the Ohio University-bound Lamberti of having the chance to play for another state title. “It's kind of weird that we're back in the finals but it shows our hard work is paying off.”
This win was not as easy as some would have thought it might be for the Trojans. In fact, Edwardsville (31-9) led 14-13 in Game 1 before junior Melanie Jereb and Rosch shared service that sent Cary-Grove on an 8-1 run the Tigers couldn't overcome.
“We got stuck in that same rotation twice,” said Edwardsville coach Jami Parker. “When you play in a big match like this you can't give up points like that.”
During that 8-1 run, the Trojans ran their offense as well as they did all night. Rosch had 2 kills and Jereb served an ace and even after Edwardsville broke the run, a Lamberti kill gave the Trojans side out and Rosch used a kill from Mallory Wilczynski, an ace and 2 Tiger errors to give the Trojans a 21-15 lead.
“Lambo is amazing and everyone was trying to get blocks on her so I was getting single blocks and I was able to place the ball,” said Rosch.
The Tigers did close to within 23-20 but a Jereb kill put the Trojans at game point and with Sam Mainzer serving, the Indiana-bound Smith set Tennessee-Martin recruit Allison Whimpey (5 kills), who pounded home the game-winner.
“Edwardsville came out very aggressive against us,” Langanis said. “You hoped to come out stronger but it didn't happen. But I'm proud of the way we stepped up and didn't get too rattled by our slow start. It was a tough match.”
The Tigers again held tough in Game 2, never trailing by more than 3 points until a Jereb ace gave Cary-Grove an 18-14 lead. Edwardsville closed to 18-16 but a Lamberti kill made it 19-16 and then an ace from Rosch, a Wilczynski kill and a Lamberti kill made it 21-16 and Edwardsville never got closer than 4 points the rest of the way. A Tiger hitting error on match point sent the Trojans back to the state title match.
“We studied a lot of game tape on Edwardsville but they played some real scrappy defense,” Langanis said.
Despite the fact they looked out of sync at times, the Trojans said they didn't feel any nerves.
“We weren't nervous at all,” said Smith. “We've been in this position before at the (Asics Challenge) and we practice on playing from behind.”
Purdue recruit Samantha Espenesa led Edwardsville with 9 kills. Korey Kronforst, Jereb and Mainzer all paced Cary-Grove's defense with 6 digs each.
“Cary-Grove is obviously a great team,” said Parker. “They're ranked No. 1 in the nation for a reason. They have such great ball control. But I'm proud of my girls. They played hard from the first point to the last point.”
And now it's on to another state title match for Cary-Grove.
“Lyons is impressive,” said Langanis of the nation's 10th-ranked team. “They have a lot of players back and they're bigger across the front line. But I'm really confident with these girls.”