Trojans shock Gators for title
The third time was a charm for Cary-Grove. It meant disaster for Crystal Lake South.
No. 2 seeded Cary-Grove, which lost to South twice during Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play, knocked off the top-seeded Gators 25-18, 25-19 to win the championship of the Class 4A Jacobs girls volleyball regional Saturday night. Crystal Lake South won the FVC Valley title with a perfect 10-0 mark, ending its season 23-14.
The Trojans (29-9) advance to the Crystal Lake South sectional when they will play Rockton Hononegah Thursday at 6 p.m.
"This is an incredible, incredible feeling," said Cary-Grove senior Danielle Smith. "I can't explain how I feel. They beat us twice, but I'll take this one any day. We wanted this one so bad. Our main goal was to win the regional and it was a total team effort."
The first game was closely contested with 6 lead changes and 5 ties.
With South leading 15-14, the Gators were dealt a severe blow when sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Schumacher went down with a severely sprained ankle. She didn't return.
"Obviously, that hurt us," said South coach Laura Jensen. "Caitlin is a very important part of the team offensively and defensively."
The Trojans regained the momentum and took control of the first game. With Kelly Lamberti serving 2 aces and Danielle Smith pounding down 3 kills the Trojans went on an 8-2 run to grab a 22-17 advantage.
A block by Jamie Kuhl gave the Trojans Game 1.
Cary-Grove continued its torrid pace in Game 2. With Smith, Lamberti and Allison Straumann contributing 3 kills each, the Trojans darted to a 13-3 lead.
The Gators pushed hard to cut the deficit and got to within 20-15 on a kill by Erin Johnson. That would be as close as South would get.
Nothing was going to derail the Trojans from winning the regional championship A kill by Breanna Smith gave the Trojans the game, match and regional crown.
"We had a great mentality and a great focus going into the match with South," said Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis, whose team had dispatched of Dundee-Crown in 3 games in the second semifinal.
"After losing to them twice during the season, this is a very satisfying win. South is an amazing team and we played our best match of the year tonight to beat them. Our goal was to win the regional. We had great defense and were digging everything. We took the wind out of their sails."
The balanced Cary-Grove attack was led by Lamberti with 7 kills and 3 aces. Danielle Smith added 6 kills and 4 blocks and Straumann contributed 4 kills and 4 blocks. Johnson paced South with 6 blocks and 5 kills and Kilberger had 4 kills.
In the semifinals, South knocked off Jacobs 25-19, 25-14 and Cary-Grove downed D-C 25-21, 17-25, 25-21
The Gators were just too strong up front for the Golden Eagles (15-21). Johnson collected 10 blocks and delivered 7 kills to lead Crystal Lake South. Kilberger contributed 8 kills and Katie Trayser added 6 kills.
"It is hard to go against all those trees," said Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer. "They are a tough, tough team. It certainly would have been fun to knock them off. We played hard the whole match, but got a little discouraged at the end."
Keri Bultman paced Jacobs with 5 kills and Lauren Pigatto had 4 kills.
Dundee-Crown coach Tracy Williams was pleased with her team's school-record 25 wins but she would have preferred a chance to play for a regional championship.
"This is the best season ever in Dundee-Crown volleyball history," said Williams, whose team finished 25-11. "I am very proud of that. Mistakes killed us in the third game. We had too many key serve receive errors. We could have won the third game without all the mistakes."
Stephanie Thorson led the Chargers with 7 kills and Amanda Lutzow collected 6 kills. Danielle Smith powered the Trojans to the win with 10 kills and 3 aces.