Girls volleyball: Timothy Christian finishes 3rd in Class 2A
NORMAL - Timothy Christian's girls volleyball team definitely would have preferred the trophy said state champions, but the Trojans, playing at the IHSA finals for the first time, will take what they earned Saturday.
Trailing 20-16 in the third set, Timothy Christian roared back to beat Shelbyville, winning the marathon Class 2A third-place match 25-17, 19-25, 25-23 at Redbird Arena.
"It's probably not the (trophy) they wanted, but coming down here for the first time I said I'd be happy with anything," said third-year Timothy Christian coach Scott Piersma. "There's a learning curve to playing down here. We came and watched St. Francis (Friday) night and they're like 'Whatever, it's just another game.'
"Only two teams get to finish winning their last match, and it's nice to be one of them."
The Trojans (37-5), who set a school record for wins Saturday, came out the aggressor in the first set. After a kill from junior Olivia Hoekstra snapped an 8-8 tie, Timothy never let go of the lead, ending the set on another Hoekstra kill.
In the second set the Trojans fell behind 14-6 and even though they closed to within 17-16 on an Ava Venema ace, the Rams (37-5) pulled away and eventually won the set on a Timothy Christian hitting error.
Shelbyville had control of the grueling third set until Piersma called time out after a kill by the Rams' Hannah Koonce put the Trojans down 19-16. But despite a Timothy hitting error after the timeout making it 20-16, a Tracy Westra kill finished off a 3-0 run to make it 20-19.
The Trojans finally forged a 21-21 tie on a Shelbyville error, but it went 21-22, 22-22, 22-23 and 23-23 before Timothy Christian pulled ahead 24-23 on a bad Shelbyville set. The Trojans then claimed the match on an ace from senior Abby Groters.
"That's been the theme of our season," Piersma said. "It's like a roller coaster. But to have that toughness and that fight to the end says something. We've had tight games before and the girls know what it takes in games like this."
Shelbyville coach Lisa Peifer chalked up the third-set loss to her team's errors but also gave the Trojans credit for making adjustments.
"We just had a couple communication errors," she said. "We fought through it, but it was too late to make the adjustments. (The Trojans) weren't doing anything different, but they did a better job of getting around our block and I saw some signs of panic from my team."
Venema, a junior, led the Timothy Christian offense with 9 kills and 11 service points, while junior Kendra Teune added 8 kills and 8 points. Junior Zoe Stanton had 20 digs and Groters added 10, Westra 8 and Rachel Stoll 6. Senior Dani Van Laten had 23 assists, 8 digs and 4 kills.
"It's been really exciting to be here," Van Laten said. "I always wanted to go downstate. Sophomore year we lost in regionals and last year we lost in the sectional finals, so this year has been amazing. I'm so excited that we got to come down here and got third."
Piersma lauded his four seniors - Van Laten, Alison DeBoer, Grace Miller and Groters - for their contributions since freshman year.
"When they started as freshmen we had A and B teams," Piersma said. "Those four stuck with us. I knew we'd be good this year, but I didn't think a 37-5 season was in the mix. They really have gone beyond my expectations."