Girls volleyball: Timothy Christian uses defense to defeat IC Catholic

If you can't beat them, join them. And then beat them.

That was the philosophy of Timothy Christian girls volleyball when it squared off with defensive power and cross-town rival IC Catholic Prep in an IHSA Class 2A sectional title match Wednesday night at IC Catholic.

"It's an old sports adage that whatever teams do well, if you can do it against them, it frustrates them," Timothy Christian coach Scott Piersma said.

From a relentless block to a tenacious back line, the Trojans' defense controlled the Knights' potent outside attack to key a 25-23, 25-19 sectional-championship performance.

Nancy Kerrigan, coach of top-seeded IC Catholic, lamented her team's passing game, which she said limited the offensive options and made the offense relatively predictable.

"To do what we need to do to open up for our outside hitters, we have to have that first-ball control," she said. "It wasn't there in the first set. We weren't able to get our middles (involved).

"When you allow a block that size to (focus) on your outsides, it's a difficult task."

Despite the Trojans' strong defensive showing, it was anybody's match most of the evening.

Two spirited fanbases packed into the IC Catholic gymnasium for the power-packed battle between the sectional's top two seeds. It didn't disappoint.

The first set started in the Knights' favor but quickly moved to a back-and-forth affair.

A 4-0 Trojans' run - keyed by two block kills - gave them a 19-16 lead. But IC fought right back to snag a 22-21 lead off an ace from Jess Sobon.

Timothy Christian scored the set's final three points on a Amanada Leibrock kill, a block and a Knights' hitting error to earn the first-set victory.

Leibrock, a right side, teamed with middle Greta Hoogstra to establish the outside block that flustered the Knights.

"She is a sophomore who has not played a ton and goes in and plays right side tonight and just owns them for us," Piersma said. "She probably had three of four blocks for kills. That's phenomenal."

After some jockeying for position, it looked like the second set would be more of the same, with Timothy Christian's defense squashing IC's attack over and over to take a 10-6 lead.

But a few Trojans errors opened the door for the Knights, who charged through it with a 12-1 run.

"It was good to see," Kerrigan said. "There was a moment of, 'Now we got our footing under us. Now we're playing our style of volleyball.'"

Kerrigan added, however, that once the run was over she could see her team "take that step back."

An 18-11 deficit in volleyball is more significant than it looks, but the Trojans stared it down and whittled it away.

A Hoogstra kill started the run, and with Sophie Labuda at the service line, Timothy Christian scored 12 straight points to take a commanding 23-18 lead before Hannah Schuringa finished things with a kill.

During the game-changing run Hoogstra had two offensive kills and a block kill and helped force several Knights' hitting errors.

"We know they push their outsides a lot, because their outsides are such strong hitters, so it's just about getting out there and be able to put the ball back on their side," she said.

"I'm so excited," Hoogstra added of the sectional championship. "I'm really happy and excited for (the supersectional). Going into this we knew we could do it if we played super hard; coming in and actually doing it is just so so awesome."

Piersma was beaming with pride as his players celebrated around their trophy, which was their pass to the Johnsburg supersectional where they will play Rockford Lutheran, a three-set winner over Montini, at 6 p.m. Friday.

"They played so hard. They played so well. I'm so proud of them," he said, later adding, "For them to fight back and still believe and want to push for that second set, entire credit to the girls. They are the reason we won in two."

Kerrigan and company end with a stellar 27-12 record and a regional championship. The Knights graduate five seniors, including starters Bella Leslie, Francesa Capannari and Olivia Palumbo, as well as Victoria Bernero and Carly Holden.

"Such a great group," Kerrigan said. " ... A couple I've known since they were little kids. So it's bittersweet. Since they've been in the program I've enjoyed what I do. I love coming to practice.

"We talk about culture with our players and leaving the program better than when they found it. These girls definitely did that."