High School Girls Volleyball
Pioneers edge Lady Railers in CS8 Conference game

 

[September 29, 2023] 

The atmosphere inside Normal University High’s gymnasium Thursday night had a postseason feel to it and with two of the best volleyball teams in the state of Illinois facing off fans definitely had plenty to cheer about. In the end, the Pioneers celebrated a victory while the Lady Railers walked away knowing there will possibly be a rematch between the two teams.

The Pioneers won in two close sets over Lincoln, 26-24 and 25-22 the scores.

Set one

Lincoln was sharp early and took a 5-0 lead in set one. After earning the first point on a Pioneers hitting error, Lincoln rattled off four straight points with Kloe Froebe at the service line. The Lady Railers front row was consistent early on with Alyssa Company rising to the occasion with a huge block, then a tip and finally a kill to earn points for Lincoln. Peyton Sasse capped off the early run with a kill down the line and the 5-0 lead forced U-High into an early timeout.

The Pioneers first big kill of the game would be courtesy of 6’3 senior middle hitter Rachel Ogunleye, setting the score at 5-2. Another successful tip by Company kept Lincoln in the lead 7-3 and then it was Rebecca Burge on the block to make the score 8-3. U-High made it an 8-7 ballgame as their hitters were finally getting warmed up. Lincoln maintained a 10-8 lead after another big block from Burge on the right side. Company’s kill from the middle stretched the lead to 12-8.

Company was spectacular from the front row and another block by the senior captain kept Lincoln in the lead, 13-10 the score. After Addison Qualters set Kloe Froebe up for the kill and Company faked towards the net, Froebe hammered the ball from the middle and the Lincoln crowd roared. With the team celebrating the point and the 14-10 score, Froebe was fired up like Taylor Swift on a Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Pioneers managed to come back and tie the set 14-14 and eventually take the lead after a missed call by the officials. Line judges will definitely be very helpful during the postseason. Nonetheless not to take anything away from the Pioneers, they hit the line when they had to and an ace serve allowed them an 18-16 lead over Lincoln. The Lady Railers battled back to tie the set 18-18. After Sasse’s kill down the line that was in and was actually called in by the official, the set was knotted 19-19. Burge’s tip tied the game again at 20-20.

A couple Lincoln errors and another questionable call that did not go Lincoln’s way as it should have put the Lady Railers in a 23-20 deficit. But as with any Lady Railer team that has Kloe Froebe at the helm, there is no giving up. The ladies fought back to a 23-24 deficit after a huge kill by Froebe. Lincoln would also tie the Pioneers 24-24 on a kill down the line by Froebe. But in the final volleys it was U-High getting past Lincoln by a final score of 26-24. A kill by the Pioneers and a hitting error by Lincoln sealed their fate.

Set two

The second set was filled with just as much action and intensity. The Pioneers started the set with a big kill. Lincoln took a 2-1 lead on the kill by Company and then a block by Sasse. The Pioneers then led 4-2 before Lincoln fought back to tie the set 4-4. Same story all over as Lincoln fell behind 6-4 and battled back to a 6-6 score.

The Pioneers kept pace by leading 8-6 and again it was Lincoln on the comeback to tie 8-8. Lincoln took a 9-8 lead but the Pioneers were quick with a kill that hit the baseline and the score was tied again, 9-9. Hitting that line again, the Pioneers took an 11-9 lead. U-High was up 14-10 with Ogunleye being a very dominant factor in the front row. Hassebrock, Froebe and Sasse did add kills during a stretch that kept Lincoln in the game.

After a hitting error by the Pioneers, the Lady Railers trailed just 14-15. Lincoln would come back and tie the set 16-16 after Sasse’s block. Sasse knotted the score at 18-18 on a kill before Burge put Lincoln on top 19-18 with her block on the Pioneers. A cross-court kill by Sasse gave Lincoln a boost with the score now 20-18. Makia Hassebrock’s kill kept Lincoln on top 21-19. But the Pioneers were charged up by their terrific student section and the result was a 21-21 tie.

The Pioneers took a 22-21 lead on the block against Froebe and even though the Lady Railers would fight back to a 22-22 tie, the rest of the set belonged to the Pioneers. Their front row controlled the game at the end with a block and two kills to earn their final points. Levyn Snow had the final kill for the Pioneers and the score in set two was 25-22.

Lincoln coach Kaylee Lowery gave credit to the Pioneers, as she did her own Lady Railers, after the tough loss.

“U-High is a great team,” said Lowery. “They are ranked no. 1 in the state for a reason. We knew that going into tonight’s game. We focused on a few key things this past week to prepare and it showed. One of those was blocking and our middles did an amazing job tonight. Alyssa Company and Rebecca Burge had 4 blocks each and Peyton Sasse had 3 blocks. When we block well it makes it easier to set up our defense and Becca Heitzig was able to get 14 digs. Addy Qualters also added 16 assists. The game didn’t fall our way but it was nothing to hang our heads about or be too upset over. We played a great game and so did U-High. We know what we have to do when and if we meet them again later in the season. We are ready and prepared to get back to work. We play Pleasant Plains this Monday at home.”

The Lady Railers are now 22-3 on the season and 7-1 in the Central State Eight Conference.

U-High now has a 21-2 overall record and the Pioneers are 7-0 in the CS8 Conference.

The Lady Railers JV team lost 27-25 and 25-12.

The Lady Railers freshman team lost 13-15, 5-15 and 15-13.

Lincoln will host Pleasant Plains on Monday night in their annual Kill Cancer game. This year the team will honor Mikah Martin.

Freshman @ 5:00 p.m.
JV @ 6:00 p.m.
Varsity @ 7:00 p.m.

Varsity stats versus U-High

Sasse 6 kills 9 digs 3 blocks
Froebe 5 kills 5 digs
Company 5 kills 4 blocks 3 digs
Qualters 16 assists 5 digs 1 block
Heitzig 14 digs 1 kill 1 assist
Hassebrock 2 kills 2 digs
Burge 2 kills 4 blocks 3 digs
Stoltzenburg 6 digs

[Teena Lowery]