JERSEY - Jersey and Highland matchups are always good, no matter what the sport. Tonight, Jersey and Highland collide for the Jersey Regional Volleyball Championship at 6 p.m.

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Jersey enters 16-12 and Highland has a 32-2 overall mark and was 10-0 in the conference

Edwardsville, 21-12, meets Springfield High, 25-14, tonight at Edwardsville for the regional championship. Springfield beat Quincy 25-14, 26-24 Tuesday.

Tuesday night’s Jersey IHSA Class 3A Regional Volleyball semifinal match featured two outstanding teams - the host Panthers and Roxana’s Shells. In the end, it was a highly competitive match with Jersey prevailing 25-19, 25-23.

Roxana's volleyball girls finish a special season with a 26-9 overall mark.

Jersey’s head volleyball coach Justin Wilhite and assistant coach Sue Long couldn’t have been happier with the way their girls executed their game plan Tuesday night against the Shells.

“One thing that Coach Long brings because of her experience is she see plays before they happen,” Coach Wilhite said. “She is able to help us devise a game plan with energy and enthusiasm and that can be great. We executed the game plan perfectly.”

Coach Long said: “Our girls have been working on some different strategies and had some thankful tips from other coaches. We are now going to polish those strategies up for Highland and see what we can do with it.”

Roxana head girls volleyball coach Mike McKinney said his team didn’t play as well as they have been and he felt the Shells didn’t have a lot of official calls that went their way.

“We didn’t play as aggressively as we have been and I wish them good luck as they move ahead,” he said. “We had a great season at 26-9, but our end obviously came a little quicker than we would have wanted. We will reload and have a lot of youth on our team. We played five sophomores in our top night. Tonight wasn’t our night.”

Four seniors - Abby Kurth, Taylor Jackson, Abi Stahlhut and Lindsey Cameron concluded their Shells’ volleyball careers Tuesday. McKinney said it was a remarkable overall season for his team, with the girls winning 22 of their last 26 matches. The 26 overall wins are the most ever for the Shells.

Highland defeats CM 25-8, 25-11

Highland defeated Civic Memorial 25-8, 25-11 Tuesday night at Jersey and will meet Jersey in the championship match Thursday evening.

Sydney Henke had five kills in the CM loss to lead the Eagles.

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Monday, Tuesday volleyball summaries

Area teams continue with intense volleyball action tonight for regional volleyball championships. Below is a summary of action Monday and Tuesday.

The Illinois High School Association’s girls’ volleyball playoffs got underway Monday and Tuesday with regional play in all four classes. Here’s a review of the first two days of the competition:

CLASS 1A

At Hardin Calhoun, Carrollton opened regional play with a 25-20. 25-22 win over Brooklyn Lovejoy on Monday evening, but were eliminated in Tuesday’s semifinal by Greenfield 29-27, 25-12. In the other semifinal, the Warriors defeated Brussels 25-11, 25-8 and will face Greenfield in the final on Thursday evening. Carrollton finishes the season with a record of 10-21.

In the Mt. Olive regional, the host Wildcats eliminated Mulberry Grove 25-9, 25-19 in their quarterfinal match, while Bunker Hill saw off Madison 25-18, 25-19. In Tuesday’s semifinals, Father McGivney Catholic defeated Mt. Olive 25-18, 19-25, 25-14 and Metro-East Lutheran defeated the Minutemaids 25-20, 25-22. The Griffins and Knights will play for the regional crown Thursday evening.

CLASS 2A

At the Hillsboro regional, Piasa Southwestern won their quarterfinal match over Gillespie 27-25, 25-19 to advance to the semifinals, but were eliminated by Staunton 25-14, 25-12. The Bulldogs face Greenville, a 21-25. 25-19. 25-20 winner over the Hilltoppers, in Thursday’s final.

In the Riverton Sectional complex, White Hall North Greene were eliminated in Monday’s quarterfinal by Westchester West Central 25-16, 25-21.

In the Carlyle regional, Marquette Catholic won their quarterfinal match over 25-13, 25-20 over Dupo, but the Explorers were eliminated in the semifinal by the hosts 25-18, 25-14. The Indians will play Carlinville, a 25-20, 25-21 winner over Trenton Wesclin, in Thursday’s final.

CLASS 3A

In the Jersey regional, Civic Memorial eliminated East Alton-Wood River 25-19, 25-13. Sydney Henke led the way for the Eagles in the match with six kills, while Jackalynn Woelfel had three kills, Kate Griffin had six assists and Ella Middleton a service ace. Aubrey Robinson had three blocks and a kill for the Oilers.

In Tuesday’s semifinals, CM were eliminated by top-seeded Highland 25-9, 25-11, and Roxana saw their very successful season come to an end with a 25-19, 25-23 loss to the host Panthers. The final pits Jersey against Highland Thursday night.

Meanwhile in the Effingham regional, Triad won their quarterfinal over Charleston 25-17, 21-25, 25-12 and advanced to the semifinal, where the Knights were eliminated by Mattoon 25-21, 25-22, The Green Wave will play the host Flaming Hearts in the final, with Effingham seeing off Paris 25-18, 25-17.

CLASS 4A

In the Belleville East regional, the host Lancers eliminated Granite City 25-11, 25-11 to advance, and in Tuesday’s semifinals, Collinsville defeated Belleville West to advance 25-23, 25-21. The Kahoks will play O’Fallon, who eliminated the hosts 25-22. 25-16.

All regional finals will be played Thursday evening at various sites around the area. The sectionals will be played on Oct. 29 and 31 with the supersectionals played on Nov. 2. The State finals are set for Nov. 9-10 at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.

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