 In game one of the
match, the Railers, despite numerous serving errors, were able to
capture the momentum and put the lower-seeded Decatur MacArthur
Generals away in relatively easy fashion. Then the Railers lost
their focus. All of which led to a three-game dogfight between the
team that was expected to win and the team that had nothing to lose.
The Lady Railers beat Decatur MacArthur in three games Saturday
night 25-12, 21-25, 25-21, but it definitely was not easy.
The often repeated sports theory is that on any given night, any
team can beat any other team. I don't believe that is generally
true, although there have been some notable exceptions. I do
believe, however, that on any given night, any team can beat
itself. I further believe that on any given night, a less
athletically talented team can play with more intensity and emotion
and end up beating a more athletically talented team. This happens
all the time. It almost happened Saturday night.
As the Railers and the Generals rolled into game two, the
Generals' intensity was evident. The MacArthur intensity came
primarily from their all-purpose star, Stevene McGee. The
left-handed, right-side hitter, sometimes setter and excellent zone
server was everywhere. Her heart was apparent. If it was up to her,
MacArthur was going to win game two. And that is just what they did.
The Railers, unable to match Decatur's intensity, let the game slip
away.
Game three was a dogfight. Each team had their excellent plays,
and each team then had their momentum-killers. For the Railers, an
excellent play was generally followed by an errant long serve. For
Decatur, their excitement in being in such a close contest for the
regional title led them into numerous hitting errors. The entire
game was a back-and-forth affair throughout. The Railers were only
able to separate themselves from the Generals as both teams reached
the 20-point mark. The Lady Railers were able to capture five out of
the next six points to win the game, the match and the regional
trophy.
Credit goes to the Railers' Emily Sheley, who throughout the
night did a great job of blocking at the net, and to the entire
Railer front line for putting the ball on the Generals' side of the
floor just enough times to carry the Railers to victory. Samantha
Lowman and Hilary Hobler did a nice job of handling the bulk of the
Decatur serves. Give credit to all of the Lady Railers, who finally
played with some intensity and enthusiasm, mostly in game three,
once they recognized that their season was in jeopardy of ending.
[to top of second column]
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In other volleyball action in the Railers' sectional bracket, the
top seeds stayed alive as expected. Champaign Centennial and Chatham
won as expected and will move on to play each other in the second
sectional semifinal match Tuesday at Mount Zion. The only small
surprise was the win by Springfield High School over Sacred
Heart-Griffin in three games. SHS avenged their recent Springfield
city tournament loss to SHG by winning a three-game thriller over
their private-school rival by a match score of 25-19, 15-25, 25-23.
No tears were shed in Lincoln over SHG's early departure from the
postseason. SHS moves on to play Lincoln at Mount Zion on Tuesday.
SHS defeated LCHS during the regular season. But as everyone knows,
this is NOT the regular season.
SHS (22-11) has many weapons, but lately, including Saturday
night, they went to their sophomore Kasi Korza when it came to
crunch time. Korza had 21 kills for the match. More importantly,
with the Senators down 20-22 in the third game, Korza had four
successive kills to bring her team to the edge of victory. Korza had
11 of her 21 kills in game three of the match.
According to SHS coach Meghan Withers, "Kasi Korza just finished
it. We just decided that she was the one that they couldn't stop, so
we were just going to repeatedly go to her. At the end of the game,
that was the plan -- we were going to set Kasi as much as possible."
SHS will likely continue to make Korza the go-to girl as the
Senators face the Railers on Tuesday night.
Springfield's volleyball coach summed up the attitude needed by
any team when it comes to the next round of postseason matches when
she said: "You either show up or your season ends." She went on to
say that if you don't want your season to end today, you have to
come out on the floor and act like it.
Here's hoping that the Lady Railers "show up" and "act like it"
tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Mount Zion High School. My guess is they
will. It's up to you, ladies.
GO, RAILERS!
[By RICK
L. HOBLER]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
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