Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Mater Dei dispatches Waterloo in volleyball sectional; Triad falls to Mattoon

BETHALTO -- Through 34 seasons and 1,002 victories, Mater Dei volleyball coach Fred Rakers has adhered to a simple formula for success.

"I always say 'Spikes in, serves in will win,'" Rakers said. "It's very simple. Doing it is the task."

The Knights did their task efficiently Tuesday in a 25-18, 25-15 victory over Waterloo in the semifinals of the Class 3A Civic Memorial Sectional.

Sophomore outside hitter Brooke Schulte had a team-high eight kills, and junior Ali Mueller was active on the left side with five kills -- all in Game 2 -- as the Knights (32-8) cruised into Thursday's 7 p.m. title match.

Mater Dei will face Mattoon (24-10), a 25-23, 27-25 winner over Triad in the other semifinal match Tuesday.

Coming off their emotional 26-24, 25-22 victory over rival Althoff in the title match of the Centralia Regional on Saturday, the Knights marked their territory early against the Bulldogs (24-5-2).

They never trailed in Game 1 and only briefly in the early stages of Game 2.

"After beating Althoff, we didn't want to take them lightly," Mueller said. "We just needed to come out strong. I think we all knew it was a big game even though we never heard a lot about them during the season."

Rakers didn't want to give the Bulldogs any reason for hope.

"You have to do that, otherwise, you'll let them believe that they're good," Rakers said. "As soon as you let a team that's not supposed to be as good (as you) think they're good, then you have your hands full."

Abbey Winter and Kaley Boeckmann also had five kills for the Knights, who shot out to leads of 9-5, 13-7 and 17-8 in the first game. Schulte had five kills for the Knights, who closed out the set on Waterloo's 10th hitting error of the game.

First-year Waterloo coach Breezy Murphy was befuddled by the disjointed play of the Bulldogs, who committed 14 errors in the match.

"I feel like we gave them so many easy balls and so many balls over the net that they were able to terminate, and they did a great job taking advantage of our errors," Murphy said. "It's a disappointing way to end the season.

"We had such a great season and to come out tonight and not have the heart and intensity ... that's something that the girls should always bring to the game. We didn't bring that tonight."

Junior outside hitter Alex Rohlfing had a match-high nine kills and senior Maddie Dodd had six for the Bulldogs.

Dodd, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter heading to the University of Miami-Ohio, had a difficult time hitting through Mater Dei's block.

"They did a good job taking Maddie out of the game," Murphy said. "As an overall team effort, we didn't get it done tonight."

Nicole Strieker had 10 assists and Sam Bedard eight for the Knights, who took a 13-9 lead in Game 2 on four straight points (three kills, one block) by Mueller.

"She kept them in play and played hard," Rakers said. "She was consistent, and that's what I said in the paper that I was looking for -- consistency, keeping the ball in play and that's what happened."

Murphy said her team was not spooked by the Knights, but they played like it.

"There might have been some intimidation, but as far as the girls told me, they were fired up to play," Murphy said. "I don't know what happened from the time we got off the bus until we started playing. Mater Dei did a great job taking advantage of all of our errors."

Mattoon 25-27, Triad 23-25

Triad led 18-12 in Game 2 but were unable to deliver a knockout punch and force a decisive third game against the Green Wave, who closed the match by scoring 15 of the final 22 points.

The Knights (24-9) had won nine straight heading into the match.

"It is disappointing," said Triad coach Amy Sheehan. "Our girls played together, but it's disappointing because we didn't play like we know how to. That's what is more disappointing than anything.

"I'll give it to Mattoon. They're a good volleyball team, but when you see stuff going on that we should have done that's disappointing to end the season that way."

Elizabeth Hampl had six kills and Julieann Ramsey for the Knights. Reynae Hutchinson, a 6-0 senior outside hitter, had a match-high 10 kills.