Hardcore Haggerty: Benet soph’s hard to keep off the court
Maddie Haggerty’s career match, it turns out, was pretty darn courageous too.
Benet’s sophomore outside hitter threw down 16 kills — and with older sister Meghan Haggerty — carried the Redwings in the third set to their first state volleyball championship Saturday night.
Little did her teammates realize how heroic an effort it was.
In the celebration of the post-match locker room Haggerty doubled over with intense pain in her stomatch area. She slumped to the grass outside Redbird Arena, and was sent in an ambulance to a nearby hospital.
There it was diagnosed that an ovarian cyst had burst during the match. Haggerty played through it all.
“It was the state championship. I just had to suck it up,” Haggerty said. “I thought I could finish.”
Haggerty remained at the hospital until 3 a.m. early Sunday morning, then returned to the hotel to find her teammates waiting up for her.
“She was upset she was missing the celebration,” Meghan Haggerty said. “It was a lot of emotions. We went from being so excited about winning a state championship to thinking ‘Oh my gosh, what is wrong with Maddie.’”
Haggerty was able to return home on Sunday, and was back in school Monday.
“I feel fine,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hurting when I walk. Other than that it feels like nothing happened.”
That was certainly not the case during Saturday’s match.
Haggerty said it felt like something was stabbing her in the middle of her stomach. Meghan Haggerty said her sister was leaning over holding her knee and on serve-receive she was uncharacteristically putting her hands on her knees. During timeouts she leaned on teammates. She never considered asking out.
“Our team had worked too hard for me to worry about myself,” Haggerty said.
Benet coach Brad Baker said she never even mentioned the pain to him during the match. While coaches and family waited in the hospital, Baker said Haggerty’s performance reminded him of the Michael Jordan “flu game” from the 1997 NBA Finals.
“It’s a credit to her and how tough she is as a kid,” Baker said. “There was no way she was coming out. She was putting the team above everything else. Most normal people would’t be playing volleyball — they wouldn’t be doing anything athletically. Here she was able to play the biggest match of her life and be successful.”
Show and tell:Benet#146;s celebratory pep rally was postponed from Monday until today, in the event Maddie Haggerty couldn#146;t make it to school. A celebration commenced Stanley Cup-style, though.A wagon was brought to school, the championship trophy put in it and each Benet player got their moment in the sun pulling it to class.#147;It was cool to show our school what it was like,#148; Meghan Haggerty said.Spartans word game:How did St. Francis prepare for Saturday#146;s 3A third-place match?Not like you#146;d expect.The Spartans, it seems, have a tradition where each player at the beginning of the season writes on a rock what the team means to them. This past weekend in Normal, they repeated the meaningful word game.#147;We do a lot of traditional things at St. Francis that some people might look at and say #145;Are you playing volleyball?#146;#148; said Spartans coach Peg Kopec, #147;because we do a lot of other stuff. We choose words and talk about what those words mean to us. Words like #145;commitment.#146; A person will talk about what that means to them. We#146;ll choose 20 different words. It puts the season in perspective, hearing from different team members what some of the different words mean to them.#148;Looking ahead to 2012:The 2011 season in the books, it#146;s never too early to look ahead to 2012.Most people are projecting Marist, which returns outsides Mallory Salis and Kelly Marcinek, as the team to beat in 4A. But don#146;t count out Benet. True, the Redwings do graduate serious firepower in Meghan Haggerty, Jenna Jendryk, Gabby Pethokoukis and Nora Young as well as back-row specialist Shannon O#146;Brien. But they do bring back their setter in Hannah Kaminsky, and championship-match hero Maddie Haggerty will be one of the best outsides in the state next year. The Redwings also return an emerging middle in Brittany Pavich, their libero (Sheila Doyle) and will welcome the girl who some consider #147;the best Haggerty sister,#148; current eighth-grade rightside hitter/setter Molly. Here#146;s a few other teams to watch:Glenbard West #8212; Look for the Hilltoppers to at least win their first regional since 1985. Dynamic setter Caleigh Ryan leads a big group of returnees who include dynamite libero Meg DeMaar.Naperville Central #8212; Tough end to this season, but the Redhawks might take it out on opponents in 2012. Alysia Baznik will be back for her fourth year, leading what will be a strong senior class that includes middles Nikki Connors and Sammie Condon and outside Kendall Ward.Hinsdale South #8212; The Hornets lose heart-and-soul middle Melissa Nava, but do bring an exceptional tandem in outside Jessica Brezwyn and setter Sharon Anderson.St. Francis #8212; Expect setter McKenna Kelsay and middle Mary Boken to step forward as big-time varsity talents. 14712257Meghan Haggerty of Benet goes up for a block during the Redwings championship effort against Cary-Grove on Saturday at Redbird Arena.Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com 14051429Sheila Doyle of Benet bumps during Benets 4A championship effort Saturday.Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com 13692767Grace Churney of St. Francis dinks during the Spartans victory in the Class 3A third-place match on Saturday.Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com