BOYS VOLLEYBALL
IHSA EDWARDSVILLE SECTIONAL SEMIFINAL
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O'FALLON 25-26, EDWARDSVILLE 18-24: O'Fallon's boys volleyball team prevailed 25-18, 26-24 in what both coaches called a "high-energy" match Friday in the sectional semifinals at Liberty Middle School in Edwardsville.
The loss sent Edwardsville out of the IHSA boys volleyball playoffs. Edwardsville was eliminated with a 25-9 record.
The Panthers improved to 28-9-1 on the year and will meet Frankfort Lincoln-Way East, 25-16, 25-19 winners over New Lenox Lincoln-Way Central in Friday's other semifinal at Tinley Park Andrew Friday, in Tuesday's sectional final with a trip to state quarterfinals at 11 a.m. June 2; that match begin at 6 p.m. at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
Lucas Verdun had 25 assists for the Tigers in the match, with Jack Grimm having nine kills and Bob Dresner adding 10 digs.
Game two of the match was knotted several times and close to the end, but the Panthers pulled out the final few points to top the Tigers.
“O’Fallon is a good team and it was quite a match,” Edwardsville head boys’ volleyball coach Andy Bersett said after the loss. “It looked like I thought it would with the energy. We just made too many errors; that was the bottom line. We made too many service errors in the first game and we had some hitting errors. The second set could have gone either way. We didn’t execute as well as they did and they deserved to win.”
Bersett said O’Fallon came out with a lot of energy and for the most part and kept it up throughout the match.
“They had their ruts but for most part executed way they should have,” Bersett said. “Their big guys came up and played well. At the service line, we saw how successful we were against them the two times before and felt we would have won if put put the ball in play well. They executed better. The second set was a toss-up and they got the last couple swings and that was the difference.”
O’Fallon head boys coach Panthers coach Katelyn Hagarty said she was proud of how her team came out and played on Friday.
“When we win our first game in matches this season we are relaxed and we did that tonight,” she said. “We came out ready to play and when we got down, we came back. We did a great job. Our team is really gaining confidence and staying composed out there. We are happy with where we are. They (Edwardsville) are great team they beat us twice. The revenge factor was there tonight.”
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