BELLEVILLE – Things didn’t come easily for Edwardsville’s volleyball team Tuesday night.
The Tigers used their consistency and resiliency to hold off a threat by O’Fallon, who won the opening game, coming from behind twice in the late stages of the second and third games to take a 23-25, 27-25, 27-25 win over the Panthers in Tuesday night’s IHSA Class 4A Chatham Glenwood Sectional semifinal match played at Belleville West.
The win sent Edwardsville to Thursday evening’s sectional final against Normal Community, 25-19, 25-21 winners over Pekin Tuesday; the match begins at 6 p.m., with the winner moving into Saturday afternoon’s Normal Community Supersectional against either Minooka or Plainfield Central (who play Thursday in the Romeoville Sectional final) at 1 p.m.; the Normal Community winner moves into next weekend’s state tournament at Normal’s Redbird Arena on the Illinois State campus.
“One of this team’s strengths has always been their consistency, their ability to stay level,” said Tiger coach Jami Parker. “The pressure doesn’t seem to bother this group, so I think that really helped them coming down the stretch tonight, just being able to play under pressure. They kept their heads.
Edwardsville’s Kate Martin came up big when the Tigers needed it most, getting some key kills that helped Edwardsville run home winners. “Kate’s just a competitor,” Parker said, “She’s a great athlete.”
“That was two big teams just putting it out on the floor,” said Panther coach Melissa Massey. “We received (serve) very well up until the end of (the second and third games) and we were throwing up some free balls, and that’s why we didn’t get it done at the end.
“I am so proud of them; we had 30 wins, three first-place finishes in tournaments, we beat the No. 5 team the state; I can’t say enough these kids.”
Game 1 started out even, the teams splitting the first 12 points of the game before Edwardsville got out to a small run to get to a 12-9 lead. Back came the Panthers, managing to forge a 15-15 tie and staying with the Tigers before building a small lead and managing to hold off Edwardsville long enough to get the win.
O’Fallon jumped out to a 3-1 lead in Game 2 before Edwardsville got it to 3-3 before going on a run to get to a 7-3 lead, expanding it to 10-6 before the Panthers managed to get the game tied three times before taking the lead at 18-17 and 19-18. Edwardsville then got to 22-19 ahead of O’Fallon before the Panthers bounced back to even things up, eventually getting the game tied at 24-24 and 25-25 before scoring the final two points of the game to force a deciding game.
Things were close throughout Game 3, neither team managing to get to a big lead before OTHS managed to get to a three-point lead at 23-20; the Tigers kept coming up with big plays to get the game to 23-23. The teams traded points before it became 25-25, with the Tigers finding ways to score the final two points of the match to move on.
Rachel Verdun led Edwardsville with nine points, with Rachel Pranger getting seven points from serve; Megan Woll aced twice and Nicki Meyer once. Pranger contributed 19 kills, with Martin getting 18 and Maria Smith six; Martin had three blocks, with Pranger, Shelbey Saye and Corrine Timmerman two blocks each. Rachel Verdun had 41 assists, with Woll adding 16 digs and Verdun 11 on the night.
Edwardsville improved to 31-6 on the year, while O’Fallon was eliminated at 31-7.
