A Hersey volleyball reunion in Cincinnati

A few years ago, Annie Fesl, Megan Fesl and Emily Steinbeck were starring for Hersey's girls volleyball team.

Now, they're playing the game at the Division I level.

On Labor Day weekend, they were reunited in Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena.

Annie Fesl, who plays for Cincinnati, was competing in the Bearcats Invitational, when her sister Megan (Notre Dame) and Steinbeck (Tennessee) showed up to watch.

Megan and Steinbeck's teams were playing in a tourney about five minutes away at Xavier University and found some time to visit.

"That was crazy," Annie said. "It was so convenient that we were all playing so close to each other at the same time."

Annie is running a 5-1 offense for the Bearcats and the junior ranks 12th in Division I with 11.98 assists per set.

Her sister Megan is in her fourth year with the Irish while Steinbeck, who transferred to Tennessee for her junior season, is setting a 6-2 offense for the Volunteers.

Annie has more than 700 assists for the season.

"I don't really care about the individual stats," said Annie, a secondary education major. "I'd rather have our team (10-8) have a better record. We've lost a lot of close games so far this season."

Annie says the collegiate game does not compare to that at the high school level.

"It's much faster," she said. "Everyone is bigger. Bigger blockers. Bigger hitters. And more is expected of you."

Men's cross country

Junior Arthur Baptist (Prospect) placed first for the University of Chicago and 21st overall in the 8K 2009 Brissman-Lundeen Cross Country Invitational at Augustana College with a time of 26.09. A total of 26 schools and 373 runners participated in this event.

Women's cross country

Southern Illinois senior A'Seret Dokubo (Conant) was named the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her run on Sept. 26. Dokubo led the SIU women with a second-place finish at the Saluki Invitational. She ran her final race on her home course with a time of 18:34.4. Dokubo helped Southern take first place at the invite and has placed within the top 10 in all three of the Salukis' races this season. She finished fourth in the Panther Open at Eastern Illinois and seventh at the Saluki Early Bird.

Women's volleyball

North Central College's Crystal Wright (Lake Zurich) and Carthage College's Drewann Pancratz (Carthage) were named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Offensive Players of the Week for Sept. 21-27.

Wright, an outside hitter, hit .244 with 59 kills (3.11 per set) as the Cardinals went 5-0 for the week, beating Millikin 3-0 before a 4-0 sweep of four matches at the Wheaton Tournament. She also totaled 37 digs and two service aces. Wright hit .355 with 12 kills against Millikin and turned in a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs against Chicago in North Central's first match at Wheaton.

Wright is the Cardinals' leader in kills (194) this season.

Pancratz, a sophomore setter, averaged 9.27 assists per set in five matches as the seventh-ranked Lady Reds went 4-1. Carthage's only loss of the week was a 3-0 decision to No. 12 Wisconsin-Whitewater at the Wisconsin-Whitewater Tournament.

• Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows) of the University of St. Francis had the best overall numbers recently in a five-game win over Bethel (Ind.) College. Becker had 16 kills, 26 serve receptions (against no errors) and added 24 digs. The win represented the first time USF has overcome a 2-0 deficit to win in 5 games since 2005. The Saints went on to win the USF Invite 4-0.

• Kristin Paczosa (Buffalo Grove), a senior at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Ia, competes in volleyball and basketball.

Cornell played in the annual Border Battle this weekend, pitting the schools of the Iowa conference against the schools of the Minnesota conference.

Paczosa led the Rams (16-6) in the 4 matches with 62 kills (.271), 7 aces, 6 blocks and 41 digs. She was named to the all-tournament team for the second time this season. Paczosa has 236 kills, 30 aces, 194 digs and 24 blocks this season.

Basketball

Jonny Reibel, who starred on Hoffman Estates' 2004 Class AA Elite Eight team, is playing pro basketball in Germany for the Crailsheim Merlins.

Football

Kevin Mazur (Hersey), a senior at Illinois State, averaged nearly 42 yards per punt as the Redbirds outlasted North Dakota State 27-24 to win their first Missouri Valley Conference game in the Fargodome. Mazur was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

The honor was the second for Mazur, who won the league's special team honor for the weekend of Sept. 9, 2006, when he was the ISU placekicker.

Mazur kept the Bison deep in their own territory all afternoon, averaging 41.8 yards per punt in the victory. Two of his 4 punts pinned NDSU inside its own 20-yard line. He had a long punt of 49 yards and his 37-yard coffin-corner kick late in the first quarter trapped the Bison on their own 3.

In his first full season as the Redbirds' punter, Mazur has punted 23 times and is averaging 37.5 yards per kick. He has pinned opponents inside the 20 six times and has induced 9 fair catch calls.

Women's tennis

Freshman Jenna Langhorst (Fremd) of Iowa State took first place in the "B" flight singles at Drake University and was second in No. 1 doubles while competing in her first collegiate invite.

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