EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville’s girls volleyball team took a straight-set 25-17, 25-10 win over Granite City in the first semifinal of the IHSA Class 4A regional Tuesday evening at Liberty Middle School, but it was very much a hard-earned win for the Tigers.
The Warriors worked very hard, and had some good moments during the match, but the Tigers were by far the better team, advancing to the final on Thursday against Belleville West. And a win in the postseason is always a good win.
“It was a nice win,” said Edwardsville head coach Heather Ohlau. “We were able to come out, and kind of get back on the court after having a weekend off, just with finishing up regular season, so it’s nice just to go get playing again.”
Ohlau didn’t think it was an easy win, as Granite’s work rate and hard play made the Tigers earn every point.
“Well, I don’t really think any win is easy,” Ohlau said. “I mean, we sought to come out what we wanted to execute. Granite City played some phenomenal defense, they kept a lot of balls alive, both in serve/receive and on defense that frustrated our hitters a little bit more, so those are things we were able to see tonight, to be able to work on moving forward.”
Ohlau is indeed looking ahead to the final on Thursday against the Maroons, and her team will be back to work on Wednesday to get ready for the match.
“We’re just going to really focus on our side,” Ohlau said. “We’re going to get back into the gym tomorrow, and try to train in the areas we need, that are in our strength, as well as build on some areas that we are not as strong in, to hopefully put it all together come Thursday.”
It’s still a good win for Edwardsville, and Ohlau is very happy with the way things turned out.
“Any time you can get a win, it’s a great day,” Ohlau said. “This was with our girls knowing it’s now or never. Any loss can end your season, and I think that’s what we really focused on, focusing on our season can be over at any time. We’ve just got to play as hard and consistent as we can.”
The Warriors end their season at 6-21, but have made great strides in the past four years under head coach Grace Hurst, and the future for the program looks promising ahead.
“I’m very proud of this group of girls, and how they played,” Coach Hurst said. “No matter what the score showed, I think they showed a lot of determination throughout the whole year.”
The match started out with the two teams trading points, with Edwardsville leading 4-3, with the Tigers eventually taking a 7-6 lead, with Ciara Cunningham serving. Edwardsville went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 14-7, forcing the Warriors to call a time out. The run continued to 16-7 before Granite City ended the run, but Edwardsville scored the next four points to make the score 20-8. After another exchange of points, Megan Sykes served the Warriors back to within 21-11, but Edwardsville got the ball back, and scored four of the first set’s final 1 points to win the set 25-17.
The second set started with the Tigers jumping out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Warriors bounced back nicely, with Makayla Tankeley serving Granite back to 7-4. Edwardsville took charge again, and extended the lead to 14-5 and eventually 22-8, scoring three of the final five points of the match, clinching the win with Lucy Malawy serving out the final point to give the Tigers the 25-10 second set win and the match.
Grace Malawy served up seven points and six aces for the Tigers, while Lucy Malawy also had seven points, with Madalyn Ohlau serving up six points and two aces, and both Cunningham and Savannah Ford having five points and two aces each. Ohlau also had six kills and a block, while Cunningham had seven kills and a block, Livia Goebel had four kills and a block, Lucy Malawy had 11 assists, and Ford came up with nine assists.
The Tigers are now 23-13, and face the Maroons, now 22-13, in Thursday’s final at 6 p.m. West defeated Alton in the second semifinal 25-10, 25-19 to advance, with the Redbirds season ending at 8-26.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
