Girls volleyball: Despite loss, Harvest Christian savors state experience
NORMAL - After years of coming so close, Harvest Christian finally broke through and reached the Class 2A state girls volleyball tournament this season.
Seniors Amanda Cassidy, Hannah Griffith, Rylee Boldog and Candis Kaplan will be forever remembered as the class that won the school's first state trophy.
It ended up being a fourth-place trophy, a bittersweet end to the season Saturday in a match the Lions nearly had won. Newton rallied for a 20-25, 29-27, 25-22 victory at Redbird Arena.
"These seniors have been through four supersectionals," Lions coach Mike Bui said. "To lose three in a row and finally get one means a lot to the school. Fourth place is fourth place. Overall we're proud of the girls."
It will be up to future Lion teams to add more history to the program, such as a first win at state. And with core players like juniors Kaitlyn Murray and Jimena Montano, sophomores Zoe Pawelek and Madison Pfister and freshman Maya Jenkins all playing big roles this weekend, it might not be long before the Lions are back in Normal.
Harvest Christian (29-13) nearly got that first state win Saturday. The Lions had three match points in the second set and led 22-21 in the third set but couldn't quite close the match out.
"It's still a dream come true," Griffith said. "It's a true blessing to experience it (state) win or lose."
Newton (32-8), which like Harvest set a school record for wins, never led in the opening set. Cassidy put down 5 of her match-high 17 kills, and Murray set Jenkins for the final point.
The Lions started fast in the second set, leading 10-4 after Jenkins laced a shot down the line.
Newton rallied, capitalizing on a mix of passing and hitting errors in a 13-3 run to lead 17-13.
Harvest settled down, and when the Eagles mishandled a pass, the Lions had a match point at 24-23. Unfortunately Harvest hit out on that point, and it also couldn't win up 26-25 and 27-26, then Newton scored three straight for the 29-27 win with the last two coming on Lion attack errors.
"I think we made a lot of unforced errors on our side," Cassidy said of that stretch.
"We are small and scrappy and they proved that today," Newton coach Jill Kistner said. "In set one we were soft, we didn't spread the ball very well. Volleyball is a momentum sport and we took the momentum into set three."
Even with that momentum, Harvest again found itself in position to win the third-place trophy when Griffith's blast gave the Lions a 21-19 lead. Cassidy's final kill came moments later and put Harvest ahead 22-21 before Newton roared back with the last four points, the final coming on Renee Probst's kill.
"The kids from Newton never gave up," Bui said. "They were playing hard. We just couldn't buy a point at the end of game two. You have to give credit to that team. They never gave up, and we weren't able to score a ball when we needed to."
Cassidy added a match-high 16 digs to her 17 kills. Jenkins and Pfister both finished with 5 kills, Murray had 31 assists, Boldog and Kaplan served 2 aces, and Kaplan totaled 12 digs.
It didn't take long after the loss for the Lions to appreciate just what it meant to make their first trip to the state tournament.
"Personally it (state) has been a dream since middle school," Kaplan said. "We've been working really hard since freshman year and it's a dream come true."
"It was really awesome to let the alumni know we did it for you," Boldog said. "At supersectional we said first we play for God, second we play for our volleyball family, and third we play for Marc Abbatacola who was a big part of all our lives and had a massive heart attack this summer. Those are the three things we played for and it really paid off."
And a season like this certainly will pay off for future Harvest teams - and not just the five returnees who were on the court Saturday.
It took a long time for the Lions to get past the supersectional hurdle and reach state. Don't be surprised if it takes a lot less time to get back.
"The younger kids coming through get to experience this so they know what it takes to get down here," Bui said. "So when we start summer camp in July we're going to work our butt off. Those kids are pretty hungry to make sure we get down here next year. We're very young still. We're extremely excited for the future of the program."