Timothy Christian keeps streak alive

Timothy Christian doesn’t carry the cocky attitude of a team that hasn’t lost in almost two months.

The Trojans just win.

Top seed Timothy Christian ran its unbeaten streak to 29 straight matches on Wednesday, beating Aurora Central 25-21, 25-13 at the Class 2A Westmont regional.

The Trojans (32-3-1) move on to play Immaculate Conception tonight for what could be their first regional title since 2006. IC was the last team to beat Timothy Christian, on Sept. 3. The two rivals have split two matches.

Timothy Christian plays like a team that knows how to win — limiting its mistakes, keeping rallies alive. Steady, unspectacular stuff that starts with a respectful approach to each match and opponent.

“That’s a credit to our kids. They go in with the attitude that they have to earn every win,” Trojans coach Lindsey Van Schepen said. “Coming in we knew that seeds 1-4 here could have been the top seed. We don’t take anyone for granted. We don’t even treat ourselves as a top seed.”

Timothy Christian likely hasn’t faced much adversity in a while, but the girls showed they could handle it.

The Trojans ran off the first 5 points of the match, then watched as Aurora Christian (15-21) answered with a 6-0 run of its own. Aurora Central eventually went ahead 14-13 on a block by Ashley Wilk.

Bridgitt Buikema came back with a kill to tie it, starting a 4-0 run that gave the Trojans the lead for good. The run ended with a Jordan Smits kill and 17-14 lead.

“We knew it would be an up-and-down match,” said Timothy Christian sophomore setter Jenna Lodewyk, who had 20 assists and 2 aces. “We just had to stay the course.”

A kill by Aurora Central’s Kaitlyn Rosa tied the second set 5-5, but a Chargers service error started a 10-1 Trojans run that all but ended the match.

“I just wanted the girls to come out with a lot of confidence,” Van Schepen said, “and take it one point at a time. I thought they did a great job of that.”

Aurora Central made way too many physical and mental errors to topple a team on a big-time roll.

“It’s hard to beat a team that knows how to win,” Chargers coach Jeanne Czipri said, “but we had a game plan going in and the girls did not follow it. When they did what we told them to do, (Timothy) didn’t touch the ball.”

The scary part of Timothy Christian’s success for opponents is the young kids the Trojans are doing it with. Lodewyk is a first-year varsity setter that doesn’t play like one, freshman Hanna Markewycz had 3 aces Thursday and Buikema, a junior, 7 kills.

Big freshman middle Kacie Stoll was blocked a couple times early but adjusted the angle on her hits well and put down 5 kills.

“To make an adjustment like that in an atmosphere like this, it was good to see,” Van Schepen said.

Rosa finished with 4 kills and 12 digs, Wilk 4 kills and Jill Huseman 9 digs and 11 assists for Aurora Central, which just a week ago had taken defending 2A champion Chicago Christian to three sets.

That swing in her team’s play made Tuesday’s loss especially frustrating to Czipri.

“The other night we played phenomenal against Chicago Christian,” Czipri said. “This regional especially you can’t come in with a flat game. And we came in flat.”