Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

O'Fallon moves on to face Edwardsville in volleyball playoffs

Winner will play for sectional championship

The prospect of more postseason play has whetted the appetite of the O'Fallon Panthers.

Regional champions for the first time since 1992 after beating Belleville West 25-15, 23-25, 25-19 on Saturday, the Panthers are not satisfied.

"These girls are hungry," said O'Fallon coach Erin Legendre, whose 27-8-1 club will face Edwardsville (22-14) at 6 p.m. today in the semifinals of the Class 4A Normal West Sectional. "We've been waiting so long for this. Honestly, after all the cheering was done after the regional trophy was presented (Saturday), we all got back together and we're like 'OK, one goal obtained. Now, on to Tuesday.'

"We knew we had to get refocused on what we're doing and keep getting better."

The O'Fallon-Edwardsville match will play played on a neutral floor at Belleville East High School to eliminate needless travel. In the other semifinal match, Quincy (34-3) faces Normal (25-11) at 7 p.m. at Normal West.

The sectional title match will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday at Normal West.

The Panthers, who finished third in the Southwestern Conference, lost to Edwardsville 25-18, 17-25, 25-15 at home on Oct. 6. Edwardsville's two sophomores -- 6-foot-0 outside hitter Samantha Epenesa and setter Lexi Gober -- both has monster matches.

Gober dished out 32 assists, many directed in the vicinity of Epenesa, who pounded down a match-high 20 kills. Slowing down Epenesa, who led the SWC in kills with 348, is priority No. 1 for O'Fallon.

"We obviously have to adjust our defense and get some big blocks on Sam," Legendre said. "She's phenomenal. If we can get a block up on her and get her quieted down a little bit, I think we'll be in good shape. It's going to be a tough match."

Edwardsville -- which flicked aside Granite City and Collinsville to win the Edwardsville Regional on Saturday -- only has one senior on the team and is sometimes prone to youthful mistakes.

But when Epenesa, 6-0 junior Maddi Croft (113 kills), senior Lindsay Kerlin (124 kills) and 5-10 sophomore Taylor Marshall (100 kills) are on their game, the Tigers are a handful.

"If Sammy is struggling or Maddi is struggling, the team kind of struggles as well," Edwardsville coach Jami Parker said late in the season.

O'Fallon has been riding the 1-2 punch of 6-0 senior Emma Goldschmidt (317 kills, 108 blocks) and 6-1 freshman Katie Roustio (269 kills).

Goldschmidt, a Saint Louis University recruit, had a season-high 21 kills against West a day after hyperextending her knee in practice.

"That was definitely one of my better games," Goldschmidt said. "I'm definitely happy with the way I played, especially with what happened (Friday) at practice when my knee popped out of its socket. I'm so excited about the way the team is playing right now."

Setters Tori Lee (341 assists) and Meredith Mueller (318 assists) have done a good job running O'Fallon's offense, and the defense has picked up its game in recent weeks.

"I'm seeing better things every game," Legendre said. "Our defense was awesome Saturday. We've been getting long rallies, and I think if we can win the long rallies against Edwardsville, we'll be in great shape."