High School Volleyball
Normal University High defeats Lincoln in sectionals

[November 01, 2022] 

The Pioneers of Normal U-High ended the Lady Railers volleyball season on Monday night in the IHSA Class 3A Sectional. U-High (no. 2 seed) defeated Lincoln (no. 1 seed) on their home court in two sets, 25-23 and 25-16.

Set One

The Lady Railers quickly took a 4-0 lead in set one, with Peyton Sasse and Alyssa Company tallying kills early on.

After another Sasse kill, Lincoln was in front 5-3. A kill from Kloe Froebe stretched the lead to 7-3.

After a couple kills by U-High’s Lily Barry, the Pioneers trimmed the lead to 8-5.

Froebe’s kill down the line, followed by a kill from Lily Holmes allowed the Lady Railers to take a 10-5 lead.

The Pioneers battled back to trim the lead to 11-10 at one point but Lincoln was quick to take advantage of some U-High errors and a 14-10 lead was the result.

Following the timeout, the Pioneers regrouped and came out strong. Two more kills from Barry would cut the lead to 16-15. U-High would tie the game 16-16 but Froebe came up with a huge kill to give Lincoln a 17-16 lead.

Barry stepped up for the Pioneers again and her kill tied the set at 17-17. U-High’s Caroline Leak put the Pioneers on top with her kill to end the next play.

The Pioneers would eventually jump in front 20-18 but after a kill by Holmes and an illegal hit by U-High, the two teams were tied up again, 20-20 the score. After a serving error by the Lady Railers and a block on Sasse, U-High took a 22-20 lead. An ace by U-High’s Lola Clayton put the Pioneers on the fast track to a win, with the score now 23-20.

Sasse had two more kills down the stretch for Lincoln, but with the score 22-24 in favor of U-High, the Lady Railers needed a miracle.

They got one miracle when U-High was called for four hits, thus making the score 23-24. And the Lady Railers nearly had another miracle as the last volley lasted a long time and even saw Froebe wait patiently for the ball to come down out of the rafters of Roy S. Anderson and miraculously keep the ball in play.

But after the ball ended up in the hands of Barry, she put down one final kill in set one that just breezed off the fingertips of the Lincoln blockers and out of bounds. U-High would win set one by a final score of 25-23.

Set Two

A kill by Company tied the game early 2-2, but the Lady Railers would face an early deficit in set two.

The Pioneers would quickly mount a 10-3 lead over Lincoln.

A kill by Holmes kept Lincoln’s hopes alive with the score 12-6.

The Pioneer’s 6’1 middle hitter, Rachel Ogunleye, really gave U-High the spark they needed in set two and in a matter of minutes the lead grew to 20-12.

Despite a couple kills from Sasse, the Lady Railers found themselves down 21-16. And then Barry really took over for U-High.

The senior, who last experienced a trip to the IHSA State Volleyball tournament her freshman year, hammered down four consecutive kills for the Pioneers to lead them to the 25-16 win.

Lily Barry, a University of Illinois commit, led all players with 13 kills.

Rachel Ogunleye had 8 kills for U-High and Caroline Leak contributed 6 kills.

U-High improves to 33-5 on the season.

Peyton Sasse, a sophomore, led Lincoln with 11 kills.

Kloe Froebe, a junior, tallied 9 kills for the Lady Railers.

Lily Holmes, a freshman, had 5 kills for Lincoln. Junior Alyssa Company contributed 4 kills.

Despite the season-ending loss, this is still a remarkable Lady Railer volleyball team that won 30 games on the season. There is a ton of young talent on this team and with a junior class that thrives on competition, the future of Lady Railer volleyball is very bright.

Emma Derry, in just her second year as head coach, was proud of her team that improved from a 20-17 record her first year to a 30-7 record this year.

“It was a great season and it’s amazing to see all the growth we have had just from last year to this year,” said Derry. “They are such a great group and such a joy to be around. I hate to see the seniors go as they have been a great part of this team, but I am really excited to see what next year brings us.”

The Lady Railers will lose seniors Cara Farnam and Malena Kirgan to graduation. But the class of nine juniors will move up and undoubtedly lead the way as Lincoln rejoins the Central State Eight Conference for their senior year.

Railer Nation deserves a special shoutout for their part in showing up in large numbers, all decked out for Halloween. A variety of costumes were on display, but a particular favorite may have been the blind referee who needed a cane to guide himself in and out of the gym.

Kudos to these students who spent their Halloween cheering for the athletes and keeping the crowd entertained with their clever chants all evening long. Railer Nation, you do make the atmosphere so much better inside Roy S. Anderson!

One more volleyball match will be played at Roy S. Anderson this week, with the Class 3A Sectional Championship set for Wednesday night between Normal U-High and Normal Community West. That game is set for 6 p.m.

Normal Community West defeated Rochester 25-12 and 25-20 to advance to the sectional championship.

Lincoln stats:

Addy Qualters 24 assists and 7 digs

Alyssa Company 4 kills, 2 blocks and 1 dig

Becca Heitzig 12 digs and 2 assists
 

Jenna Bowman 4 aces and 2 digs

Kloe Froebe 9 kills, 17 digs, 1 ace and 1 block

Lily Holmes 5 kills and 1 dig

Peyton Sasse 11 kills

Rebecca Burge 2 blocks and 1 dig

Taryn Stoltzenburg 1 dig

U-High stats:

Lily Barry 13 kills and 2 digs

Lola Clayton 14 assists, 4 digs and 2 aces

Emma Jean Lehen 10 digs and 2 aces

Caroline Leak 6 kills and 5 digs

Rachel Ogunleye 8 kills and 1 block

Mo Petelin 14 assists

Levyn Snow 3 kills

[Teena Lowery]