Midgets stand tall, and St. Edward falls in state semis

NORMAL - If ever a girls volleyball team had a nickname that doesn't fit, it's Freeburg High School.

The Midgets they are not, despite what their mascot officially is.

With four players standing 6-foot or taller, Freeburg, which is located near St. Louis, took St. Edward completely out of its game here Friday afternoon, defeating the Green Wave 25-23, 25-22 in the Class 2A state semifinals at Redbird Arena.

St. Edward (23-18) will take on Princeton (28-10) for third place at 11:45 a.m. today while Freeburg (35-5) matches up against Tolono Unity (27-12) for the state championship at 12:45 p.m.

The Green Wave's fate was sealed Friday by a combination of its own unforced errors and Freeburg's strong net play. St. Edward committed a total of 21 errors in the match, 14 of them on attack.

"Down the tournament trail we've only had to key on one or two hitters. This team had four with over 100 kills," said St. Edward coach Jaime Walton, who coached the Wave to a fourth-place finish in Class A in 2004. "We stayed with them and fought to the end. I thought we were pretty evenly matched but they had some firepower and ran a quick offense. We did have a few unforced errors that are typical of coming downstate and playing in the big arena. We're used to playing in really small gyms."

St. Edward was forced to play from behind most of the match.

Freeburg, playing in a state final tournament for the first time in 25 years, broke open a close Game 1 with a 6-2 run that took a 7-7 contest to 13-9 in favor of the Midgets. The Green Wave fought back, though, and eventually tied the game at 17 on a kill by Kristi Knott. But Freeburg used three St. Edward errors and two kills of its own to forge ahead 22-18 before a Midget error gave St. Edward the serve back down 22-19. Two aces by Molly Kelly gave the Wave some life at 22-21.

After a setting error made it 23-21, a kill by St. Edward senior standout Kristen Haggenjos and an ace from senior Rachael Varley tied it again at 23. But 6-2 junior Kayleigh Cox slammed home 2 straight kills to give the game to Freeburg.

"It was pretty tough," said the Loyola-bound Haggenjos, who led St. Edward with 6 kills. "It wasn't just that they were big, they worked very hard. It was tough to get our offense going and when we did we started playing soft. If we would have played aggressive the whole game we might have done better."

Game 2 started on a positive note for the Wave as it jumped out to a 2-0 lead. But once Freeburg took its first lead at 9-8, the Midgets appeared to gain confidence. The game stayed close and St. Edward had a 17-15 lead when Freeburg sophomore Maddy Hogan took over the serve. Hogan, using a sideways running serve, scored 6 straight points for the Midgets as the Green Wave committed 4 straight errors.

"She's gotten better over the season and that's become a very good serve for us," said Freeburg coach Lesa Bolt.

Two kills from Haggenjos allowed St. Edward to stave off match point twice but a final slam from Cox, who finished with 5 kills, gave Freeburg the win and a spot in the state title match.

"We showed up to play," said Walton. "There was a little nervousness but there were also some monster blocks. We were there most of the time to cover but you don't see four 6-foooters like that very often."

Freeburg's players were impressed with the play of the 5-8 Haggenjos.

"She was a good hitter and she was reading our angles really well," said Midgets' libero Andrea Bolt, who will play at Saint Louis University next year.

Said Cox: "She was really quick. I couldn't see her hands very well. She was a good player."

The match was especially frustrating to St. Edward senior setter Katie Yohn, whose net play has been one of the major strong points down the stretch for the Green Wave. Friday, Yohn had just 3 kills and 8 assists while committing 5 attack errors.

"I get frustrated when things don't go well," Yohn said. "I was trying to hit it off the top of their hands and it just didn't go well."

That same frustration was shared by St. Edward senior Molly Kelly, who was limited to 2 kills.

"It really hurts that we're not going to play for the championship," she said. "Now we just have to concentrate on third."

To Walton, Friday may have been the state title match.

"Not to knock the other two teams but I thought that could have been the state championship game," she said. "We'll bounce back (today)."

Six-foot junior Colleen Yarber and 5-9 junior Sam Kassing led the Midgets with 6 kills each. Yarber and Bolt each had 7 digs. Kristen Haggenjos had 7 digs for the Green Wave and her sophomore sister Margie added 6.

>

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=250931">Girls volleyball state tournament images </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>