BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL - The Edwardsville girls volleyball team lost a very close opening set and rallied back to take the second set, but Barrington was able to take a very close third set and the third and fourth place match in the IHSA Class 4A state finals, defeating the Tigers 25-22, 15-25, 26-24 at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.

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The Tigers end the season taking home the fourth-place trophy, as they did at their previous appearance in the finals in 2010.

The Broncos scored the first six points of the opening set behind Gwen Adler's service and kills from Jessica Horwath, Campell Paris and Bre Dunn, eventually stretching the lead to 7-1, then 9-4. The Barrington lead eventually became 20-12 when the Tigers, behind the service of Kaitlyn Conway and Emma Garner, scored eight of the next 11 points to cut the lead to 23-20, and eventually cut the lead to 24-22 before a Horwath kill gave the Broncos the first set 25-22.

The Tigers scored the first three points of the second set, but Barrington rallied to tie the set 4-4, and an exchange of points brought the Broncos to the lead at 9-8. Edwardsville, behind kills from three kills from Syd Harris and another from Sydney Davis, helped give the Tigers a 14-9 lead, which they extended to 21-14 on the service of Maddie Vieth. Edwardsville then scored four of the set's final five points, ending it with a Garner kill that made the final 25-15, tying the match at a set each.

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The Broncos went out to an early 3-0 lead in the final set, but the Tigers came back to tie things up at 5-5 as a Gabby Saye kill and service from Vieth brought Edwardsville back. Jenn Metzler then served Barrington into a 12-9 lead, which was extended to 17-11 on the service of Collette Garrels. An exchange of points made it 18-12, after which the Tigers scored nine of the next 12 points to even the set at 21-21, with Davis and Vieth serving, and kills from Saye, Garner and Lexie Griffin drawing Edwardsville level. An exchange of points brought the score to 24-24, but the Broncos scored the last two points of the set to win 26-24 and the match 2-1.

Garner and Saye both had 10 kills each, while Harris had seven, with Vieth and Griffin each having 14 assists. Vieth served up 14 points, while Garner had 13 points, Griffin had 12 points and both Rachel Heflin and Conway served up 10 points each. Garner had 12 digs, while Vieth had 10 and Ava Waltenberger came up with five blocks, Kloi Karban had four and Davis and Harris had three each.

The Tigers conclude the season 33-9, while the Broncos finish up 33-8. The Class 4A championship was won by Aurora Metea Valley, who upset Chicago Mother McAuley Catholic 15-25, 25-18, 25-17.

In the other championship and third-place matches, Champaign St. Thomas More won the Class 1A title with a 22-25, 25-18, 25-17 win over Augusta Southeastern, while Freeport Aquin Catholic took third place over Springfield Lutheran 25-22, 25-17. In Class 2A, the state champions are Lombard Montini Catholic, a 25-16, 25-17 winner over Pleasant Plains, while Palos Height Chicago Christian defeated Breese Mater Dei Catholic for third place 25-16, 25-14. In the Class 3A final, LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy won the championship over Belvidere North 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, while Normal Community West won third place over Joliet Catholic Academy 25-20, 26-24.

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