Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville girls volleyball team honored seniors Maddie Isringhausen and Lexie Curtis in their annual Senior Night prematch ceremonies, then the pair played a big role in helping the Tigers win their final home match of the regular season in a 25-19, 25-14 win over Belleville West Tuesday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The Tigers played very well against the Maroons in their final regulars season match at home, honoring the two seniors who have provided so much to the Edwardsville program.
"Oh, I was very proud of the girls," said Tiger head coach Lisa Orlet. "They're really playing together, and it was important for them to honor their seniors; their seniors have been of great service and leadership all year, so it was great to see the girls want to give back to them tonight."
The team is also having fun playing the game as well, along with taking care of their business, which has been a team mantra throughout the season. It's definitely a good sign of things to come.
"Absolutely," Orlet said. "That's the thing that we've been striving for all year, is shake off our errors, don't take yourself too seriously, and have a lot of fun. And they're very talented. Just to see them play loose and do what they're capable of doing is a blast."
The team has progressed very well throughout the season, and Orlet is very proud of their efforts.
"Oh, yeah, very proud." Orlet said. "They make a coach's job easy for sure."
The mindset going into the match against West was singleminded and focused.
"You know, just honor that it was our last home game," Orlet said. "We put in a lot of hours in this gym, and enjoy ourselves. And the girls really wanted to do it for the seniors, so that was the decision they made, all on their own, and they really did. They pushed through, and the girls played together. I think they have been playing like they've been practicing now, so that's great."
The match began with both teams exchanging points before Isringhausen started off on a roll, getting a kill to give the Tigers an early 2-1 lead, then reeling off six consecutive service points, highlighted by two more kills and an ace by Isringhausen and a kill by Alexa Harris to give Edwardsville an 8-1 lead before the Maroons got the ball back. Sarah Glaeser then served up three points in a row for West before another exchange brought it to 12-7 for the Tigers. A Gabby Saye kill and a service point for Harris made it 14-7 before the sides traded points again to make it 15-10. Edwardsville then went on another streak, behind the service of Morgan Tulacro, with Curtis and Storm Suhre combining on a block and another Isringhausen kill making it 19-10. A kill by Maddie Missey got the Maroons the ball back at 19-11, and Maggie Muskopf then served up back-to-back points to cut the lead to 19-13. Another exchange brought the score to 24-17, where the Maroons were able to cut the lead to 24-19 on a violation and a block by Jessie Muckensturm and K.C. Stedman, but Rihanna Huebner drove in a kill to make the first set final 25-19, giving Edwardsville a one-set edge.
The two sides started the second set with an early exchange that made the score 2-2 before the Tigers started a string of four in a row, with Kaitlyn Conway serving up three straight points to make it 6-2, causing the Maroons to call time out. A Glaeser kill and service point cut the lead to 6-4, and another exchange brought the score to 9-6 for Edwardsville before West cut the lead to 9-8 on kills by Kaytie Kossina and Muskopf. Another exchange brought the score to 10-9 before Huebner brought home a kill to make it 11-9, starting a six-point streak served up by Tulacro, which featured a great tip by Huebner, a nice kill from Curtis and a pair of errors by West that made it 17-9 before the Maroons got the ball back after a long rally where the ball hit off the antenna and on the tape on top of the net before falling over. The point was replayed when the officials couldn't determine what exactly happened, and the Maroons made a great play to save the point and get the ball back at 17-10. Edwardsville then scored three of the next six points to bring the score to 20-13 before another exchange made it 22-14. Harris then served out the match, with Saye scoring the kill to make the final 25-14 to give the Tigers the match.
Isringhausen had six kills, 10 digs and seven points for the Tigers, with Curtis having seven kills, Tulacro had nine digs, 16 assists, nine points and two aces, Huebner had six kills and three blocks, Suhre had four blocks and Harris had six kills in the match.
The Tigers wind up the regular season with a Southwestern Conference match at Belleville East on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. then start their IHSA Class 4A postseason trek at the Redbirds Nest in the Alton regional against the host team next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Orlet thinks her team has the potential to go a long way in the tournament.
"Oh, yeah, absolutely," Orlet said. "They're a very talented group, and I'd like to see them definitely reach their potential, I'd like to see them really take a couple of really good teams out there in their way, but I think that they're as good as any of them, so I'm excited to see what the future brings."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
More like this:
