Sectional crown for Hampshire
BYRON -- By this morning, Oregon's volleyball players may be sporting a few new tattoos, courtesy of the Hampshire Whip-Purs.
The Hawks weren't quite ready for the power of Hampshire's big hitters and took a few shots to the body. As a team, the Whips delivered a body blow as well, dispatching Oregon, 25-19, 25-18, to win the Byron Class 2A sectional.
The sectional title was the first in program history. The Whips (35-3) now return home, with Monday's 6 p.m. supersectional matchup against Westmont on the Purple Palace floor. The winner advances to next weekend's Final Four in Normal.
Hampshire often made it look easy, first sailing past Forreston 25-11, 25-15 in the semifinals before downing the Hawks.
Jena Karkos and Amy Wehrs had most of the big hits. Karkos had 13 kills and Wehrs added 11 for Hampshire.
Hampshire led throughout the second game, with Wehrs' emphatic spike providing an appropriate ending to the match.
The Whips started somewhat sluggishly in the first game, but broke it open with 5 straight points to lead 18-13.
"After the first game, we knew that we could still step up our level (of play) and play better," said Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse. "And I think we did a much better job of minimizing the errors yet still playing aggressively."
Hampshire responded to each mistake with a big play. For example, a missed serve was answered with a hard kill by Karkos.
"Our strategy was to get a sideout right away, (to give up) no more than 2 points in a row, just come out strong and play through everything. If you make a mistake, just shake it off. Who cares? Just come out strong no matter what," said Amy Wehrs.
"We've had the pressure all year, so coming out today we knew that we would have to be at our strongest and we were really ready for tonight," said setter Kara Wehrs, Amy's twin sister.
The ability to shrug off their relatively few mistakes served the Whip-Purs well.
"If we made a mistake, we just decided to give it our all because it might have been our last shot," said Hampshire's Amber Ladwig," So we just gave it our best shot and left everything on the court."
The first game was tied 4 times early. Karkos' kill gave Hampshire the lead for good at 14-13. The Whips increased the lead to 18-13 with Jennifer Kondradt at the service stripe. Oregon got as close as 20-17, but Hampshire slowly pulled away at the end.
The Whips, who never trailed in either game, started slowly again in Game 2, leading just 10-9. But a kill by Amy Wehrs got Hampshire the serve, and Ladwig took advantage, serving an ace to start a 3-point run.
Dani Steffa, Oregon's 6-foot middle hitter, kept the Hawks alive with 6 kills and some big blocks, but it wasn't enough.
Hampshire's blockers, led by Ladwig and Jaclyn Clai, kept Forreston's and Oregon's hitters from being big factors. Kondradt and the Hampshire defense cleaned up most of what got through.