Timothy Christian wins 1st sectional title
WINN EBAGO — The Timothy Christian girls volleyball team got a bit of a wake up call in Game 1 of its sectional title match here Thursday night.
And wake up the Trojans did.
After being pushed to the limit by St. Edward in Game 1, Timothy Christian broke open a close Game 2 early and defeated the Green Wave 26-24, 25-18 at the Class 2A Winnebago sectional, winning the program’s first sectional championship in girls volleyball.
“I knew the girls were looking at the banners in the gym today and they wanted one for themselves,” said third-year Trojans coach Lindsey Van Schepen. “This is an awesome group of girls and it’s special for me to see them accomplish this.”
Timothy Christian (35-3), which is now unbeaten in its last 32 matches, will take on Chicago Christian at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Lisle supersectional.
St. Edward, a No. 5 seed when regional play began, finished the season 22-14.
“We played awesome,” said Green Wave coach Jaime Dovichi. “I couldn’t have asked for them to play any harder. It’s an awesome experience for our underclassmen and the seniors have been great leaders all season.”
St. Edward got down 7-2 in Game 1, but slowly got back into the game, eventually taking a 12-11 lead after 2 aces by senior Katie Ayello. From that point, the exhausting game had 14 ties and 10 lead changes until Timothy got the serve back on a kill from freshman Kacie Stoll.
With a 25-24 lead, the Trojans’ Jordan Smits sent a serve deep that went off the defensive attempt of St. Edward sophomore Allison Kruk to give the Trojans the Game 1 win.
“At that point of the game you just know to play the ball,” said Dovichi. “As an athlete, you just know to play the ball.”
“That definitely gave us a little reality check on what we were up against,” said Timothy Christian senior Makenzie Vos of Game 1. “After that we buckled down and took control.”
St. Edward bounced back from the emotional letdown of losing Game 1 to hang tough early in Game 2. The Wave forged a 7-7 tie after a Timothy passing error, but when the Green Wave’s next serve went out of bounds, it started a 9-0 Trojans’ run that the Wave could never recover from. Smits served 4 aces during the run and the Trojans used 3 errors by St. Edward to help the cause.
“That deflated us,” said Dovichi. “It wasn’t one of our best serve receive rotations and we didn’t have a lot of confidence in our passing.”
Van Schepen thought it was just a matter of time for her team to get comfortable with its surroundings.
“Anytime you have an atmosphere like this it takes longer to get into rhythm,” she said. “(St. Edward) has some awesome hitters and this really was a very even match.”
The 9-0 run gave Timothy a 16-7 lead and even though St. Edward fought to within 22-17, the Trojans closed out the match and the sectional championship when Vos and Bridgitt Buikema blocked St. Edward senior Callie Johnson at the net for the win.
“This feels just awesome,” said Vos, who had 5 kills to lead the balanced Trojans’ offense. “Especially with this being my senior year, it’s definitely the most memorable year now.”
Buikema and Smits each had 4 kills for Timothy and sophomore setter Jenna Lodewyk dished out 20 assists.
“This team’s biggest strength is that any girls can step up on any night,” Van Schepen said. “If you give them an opening they can take it.”
Sophomore Katie Swanson led St. Edward with 10 kills, while senior Sarah Norman had 6 kills and Johnson added 5. Rena Ranallo added 10 digs for the Wave, Kruk had 13 digs and Ayello 20 assists and 6 digs.
“They just played together really well,” said Ayello of Timothy. “They were fast and we couldn’t keep up with them. They’re a really good team.”