Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

Freeburg, Central lead tough volleyball field

Midgets begin defense of 2A title

Take the scariest Halloween flick out there and it might not equal the fright factor of the Class 2A Carlyle Volleyball Regional.

In what is arguably the toughest small-school regional field in the state, the five teams assigned to the Carlyle Regional all have at least 15 wins and would likely be favored if they were dispatched to other regionals across the area.

"I've only been doing this for four years, but this is the hardest regional I've ever seen anywhere," said Nashville coach Josh Konkel, whose club is 23-11 -- and seeded fourth.

The field contains the last two Class 2A state champions in Central (2007) and Freeburg (2008). The top-seeded Midgets are 31-2, ranked first in the News-Democrat Small-School poll and 94th nationally by www.prepvolleyball.com.

No. 2-seeded Central is 21-11 after another brutal regular-season schedule that included three losses to Freeburg. Carlyle (23-7) is seeded third, Nashville fourth and Wesclin (15-9) fifth.

The regional kicks off Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with a Nashville-Wesclin quarterfinal match, followed by Central vs. Carlyle in the semifinals. The Wesclin-Nashville winner gets Freeburg in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m.

The title match is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Even Freeburg coach Lesa Bolt -- whose club is 8-0 against the field -- is sounding the caution alarm.

"The No. 1 seed really doesn't mean much here," Bolt said. "All of those teams are pretty good and they all have nothing to lose. Everyone is going to have their best game against us, so we absolutely don't underestimate anyone."

Since they won the Class 2A state title last year, the Midgets are used to being in the cross-hairs and have handled it splendidly. They've won 15 straight since suffering consecutive losses to Mater Dei and Cor Jesu at the Belleville East Metro Classic on Oct. 3.

Freeburg avenged the Mater Dei loss Saturday, beating the Knights 25-23, 18-25, 16-14 in the title match of the Quincy Notre Dame Tournament.

"They're ready for the challenge," Bolt said. "I think their win against Mater Dei the other day proved that they're really ready to keep fighting to the last point. I think they know what it takes to get to where we want to go."

Few teams have been able to slow down Freeburg's balanced net attack, which features five players with 125 or more kills. Junior setter Chelsi Hummert (429 assists) is also Freeburg's kill leader with 218, followed by Colleen Yarber (177 kills), Sam Kassing (160), Kayleigh Cox (136 kills, 108 blocks) and Lucy Balch (125).

Sophomore setter Kacey Wahlig (395 assists), junior libero Maddy Hogan (448 digs) and junior middle hitter Kelsey Robertson (104 blocks) have also played key roles.

"One game one person steps up, and the next, someone else steps up," Bolt said. "It's truly been a team effort."

Central has a pair of big-time talents in junior middle hitter Jena Hemann and senior outside hitter/setter Kelsey Johnson, who's heading to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

But the Cougars are often their own worst enemy and must curtail their rash of unforced errors to have a chance of advancing.

Carlyle took the Cougars to three games twice before losing both times. The Indians have three solid hitters in Nicole Schaeffer (216 kills), freshman Paige Rakers (116 kills) and Lindsey Brinkmann (88 kills), the conference's top assist leader in Ellen Lueking (466 assists) and gifted libero in senior Maddie Beckmann (329 digs).

* At the Class 2A Red Bud Regional, Columbia (17-12) earned the top seed and will play the Pinckneyville-Red Bud winner at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.

The Eagles have the conference's top kill leader in 6-0 senior Stephanie Mueller (272 kills), while Megan Galle (141 kills) and Allie Joyner (104 kills) have had strong seasons. Taylor Mytyk (360 assists) feeds the offense.

* At the Class 2A Marquette Regional, Greenville is the top seed followed by Marquette and Metro-East Lutheran

Class 1A playoffs

Valmeyer (17-9) is the top seed at the Class 1A Valmeyer Regional and will face either Dupo or Madison at 7 p.m. today in the semifinals.

The Pirates -- who have just two seniors on their roster -- tied Steeleville for first place in the Kaskaskia Division of the Cahokia Conference. Sophomore setter Laura Berry (493 assists) distributes the ball to junior Michele Bivins (190 kills), freshman Corine Inman (157 kills), junior Chelsea Nabers (93 kills) and sophomore Caitlin Nappier (83 kills).

* At the Class 1A Marissa Regional, the host Meteors are the top seed followed by Woodlawn and Odin.