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I only got half of what I hoped for.
As I meandered toward Mount Zion last
night, I knew two things for sure. The Lincoln Lady Railers
volleyball team had a record of 25-6. The Decatur Eisenhower
Panthers had a record of 6-24.
After a crazy day at my "day job," I
hoped for a "boring" match where the Railers dominated throughout
and won easily. As I said, I only got half of what I hoped for.
The Panthers from Decatur Eisenhower
had other hopes. Like upsetting the highly seeded Lady Railers and
moving on to the regional final on Saturday. In game one of last
night's match, they almost had their hopes come true. Almost.
Early on in game one it was apparent
that the majority of the Railer team was in Mount Zion in body only.
Was it because it was a Wednesday night and the Railers never play
on Wednesday night, or was it that the Railers forgot that this is
the postseason, where prior records seldom matter? Whatever the
reason, Eisenhower showed up to play from the beginning, and the
Railers showed up about 20 points later.
As game one began I was tempted to go
out and measure the Mount Zion court out of fear that somehow the
lines had been shrunk. As I watched Railer serves and kills go long
at least a half-a-dozen times, I knew it had to be the court.
Unfortunately it wasn't. The Railers never led game one until they
led 23-22. At 20-22 in favor of Eisenhower, I made a space on my
score sheet for a three-game match, at the same time Lincoln's coach
Howe called timeout. I'm not sure what words of motivation and
wisdom the coach imparted during that short minute of rest, but when
the Railers returned to the floor, they were now wide-awake. A
Samantha Conrady kill (five total for the match) immediately
followed by a Samantha Conrady serve and a Michelle McFadden kill
(six total for the match) knotted the score at 22-22. Then another
Conrady serve followed by a Conrady dig off the floor on the return
led to a Megan Hoffert kill, and the Railers led 23-22. Timeout
Decatur to freeze the Railer senior. It worked, as "Sam" served into
the net to bring the score to 23-23. Michelle McFadden then stepped
up to drive home the next point, and then an unreturnable Maria
Benitez serve gave the Railers the two remaining points they needed
to secure game one, 25-23.
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The Railers did give me what I hoped
for in game two -- a nice easy win. Unlike game one, the Railers
never trailed in game two. Three almost successive aces by Michelle
McFadden (eight service points for the match) and two more aces by
Maria Benitez (five total service points for the match) were just
the beginning of the end for the Eisenhower Panthers. Numerous
unforced errors by Decatur and adequate team play by the Lady
Railers filled in the rest of the story line. Game two was quickly
in the books at 25-13 with the Railers hardly breaking a sweat. That
may sound boring, but boring is good some nights.
I know one thing further: There won't
be any more "boring" from here on out.
In the other regional semifinal match,
LCHS rival Bloomington High School had a similar problem with a
Mount Zion team which, on paper, they should have beaten easily.
"Easily" for Bloomington meant a three-game match with scores of
21-25, 25-15 and 25-21. I don't imagine that is what they expected
either. Similar "spooky" stories were told around the state of
Illinois in first-round games where the favorites were beaten or
almost beaten.
Bloomington escapes to play Lincoln in
Saturday night's regional championship match at Mount Zion. Unlike
yesterday, the Lady Railers will have to play on Saturday like there
is no tomorrow. Which, of course there isn't, unless they win.
Here's what I'll hope for the Railers
on Saturday -- a game like none before it this year, the
Railers playing with some of their own self-induced emotion and
passion, a regional championship for the Lady Railers, and
the chance to play again next Tuesday (maybe against your friends
from Champaign Centennial).
One point at a time, one game and one
match at a time.
GO, RAILERS!!
[Rick
L. Hobler]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
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