Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009

Knights fall short against Freeburg; Mater Dei coach stalled on 999 career wins

The Freeburg Midgets denied Fred Rakers a slice of history Saturday.

Mater Dei's veteran volleyball coach stalled on 999 career victories after his Knights were beaten 25-23, 18-25, 16-14 by Freeburg in the title game of the Quincy Notre Dame Tournament.

Rakers was attempting to become just the second coach in state history to reach 1,000 career victories, but the Midgets weren't about to be a footnote.

"Not against Freeburg," Freeburg coach Lesa Bolt said with a laugh. "We didn't actually realize that could have been his 1,000th win until after the match. I don't think that would have mattered. I think playing Mater Dei was motivation enough for these girls."

Rakers would have joined Wheaton St. Francis volleyball coach Peg Kopec in the exclusive 1,000-win club. Kopec, who's been coaching for 35 years, reached 1,000 wins on Sept. 9. Kopec has a career record of 1,024-230-2.

In his 34th season at Mater Dei, Rakers has a career mark of 999-196-7 as the Knights closed the regular season at 29-6. His next attempt at win No. 1,000 will come at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals of the Class 3A Centralia Regional against Mascoutah.

"We'll wait until Thursday, I guess," said Rakers, who was well-aware of the impending milestone. "I've been hearing it so often, it's hard to get away from it. That's all right. When it happens, it will happen."

It was the second win over Mater Dei this season for the defending Class 2A state champion Midgets, who improved to 31-2. Freeburg beat Mater Dei 25-22, 25-21 on Sept. 3 and lost to the Knights 25-21, 25-27, 25-22 on Oct. 3 in the third-place match of the Belleville East Metro Classic.

Freeburg used a balanced hitting attack to fend off the Knights, getting six kills apiece from Colleen Yarber, Chelsi Hummert and Lucy Balch. Hummert also dished out 16 assists.

"It was a team effort," Bolt said. "They were really trying to mix it up so they couldn't get a read on the other side."

In the third game, Mater Dei had an 11-7 lead before the Midgets tied it at 12.

"It was just that kind of game," Rakers said. "The team that was behind seemed to pick up some momentum somehow and get back in the game. I think both teams knowing they were both good, nobody wanted to let up. When they did, the other team took complete advantage."

Tied at 14, Freeburg collected the last two points on a dual block by Kayleigh Cox and Sam Kassing, and a tip by Kassing that was hit into the net by the Knights.

Ranked first in the News-Democrat Small-School poll, the Midgets went 5-0 in the tournament, beating Granite City, Rockford Guilford, Duschense and AC Central.

Brooke Schulte had eight kills, Ali Mueller seven and Kaley Boeckmann six for the Knights. Nicole Strieker had a team-high 12 assists while Sam Bedard added 11.

After blasting Mascoutah, Athens, Bloomington Central Catholic and St. Louis Lafayette in the first four matches, Rakers said the Knights did enough things wrong to be exploited by the Midgets.

"We were up, then we were down and they were up, then we weren't up at the right time," Rakers said. "When you hit, you're going to do well. When you stop hitting, you're not going to do well. When you pass well, you're going to be OK. When you don't pass well, you're not going to be OK. It's the simple way volleyball is."