ALTON - Edwardsville High's girls' volleyball team put together a great team effort, led by Maddie Isringhausen's 11 kills and 11 digs, along with 16 assists from Lexie Griffin, to take the IHSA Class 4A regional championship with a 25-19, 25-15 win over O'Fallon Thursday night at the Redbirds Nest in Alton.
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It was a very well-played and highly entertaining match from both sides, but the Tigers were able to pull away late in the second set that had been back-and-forth throughout to win the regional and advance to next week's sectional at O'Fallon's Panther Dome. And Edwardsville head coach Lisa Orlet couldn't have been any prouder of her team.
"Well, no, everyone's special," a beaming Orlet said. "You know, these girls have been wanting this all year, it was one of their goals, and I was glad to see them achieve it, and really spread out the offense and everybody take a part in it. I'm really proud of where they're at right now."
The second set's see-saw pattern, where both sides constantly traded points for much of the way, didn't rattle Edwardsville at all. Instead, the Tigers kept to their style, and eventually were able to pull away from a very good Panther side.
"Yeah, they stayed really calm, and they played their game," Orlet said. "Our centers did a good job of distributing the ball, and everybody was on, everybody was aggressive. So it helps," Orlet said with a smile and laugh.
Orlet agreed it was a total team effort and win for the Tigers.
"Yes, definitely," Orlet said. "Those are the kind when they play like that, they're a very tough team to beat, because there's so much talent."
Especially in the latter part of the second set, where the Tigers took control and pulled away from the Panthers.
"They had no idea who the ball was going to," Orlet said, "everybody was swinging. The girls just came through, they had a lot of fun with it, and stayed aggressive, and stayed believing, and kept each other really fired up. It's great energy."
And the Tigers definitely had a lot of fun out on the court as well, enjoying the match and seizing the moment.
"They did," Orlet said. "They enjoyed every moment of it. I was very proud of them. You know, that's the way it should be played; all sports should be played that way."
The Tigers got off to a great start in the opening set, with Griffin serving up the first three points of the match, starting off with a Storm Suhre kill, an ace and a violation against O'Fallon to take a quick 3-0 lead. The Panthers answered back with six in a row, with Lauren Dawson serving, climaxed by an ace to give O'Fallon a 6-3 lead. Edwardsville called time out to settle everyone down, and after that, a Suhre kill gave the Tigers the ball back at 6-4, and Alexa Harris then served up a six point run, featuring kills from Suhre and Isringhausen, to give the lead back to Edwardsville at 10-6. O'Fallon rallied again to tie the set at 10-10, but the Tigers responded with a 5-3 run to go back up 15-13, then reeled off four more in a row, led by a kill and good serving from Isringhausen and a combined block from Rihanna Huebner and Lexie Curtis to go up 19-13. The two teams exchanged points before another Suhre kill made it 21-14 for Edwardsville, causing O'Fallon to call time out. The Panthers did rally, helped with a combined block from Faith Mayfield and Taylor Guy and another Dawson ace to make it 22-18, but the Tigers scored three of the last four points of the set to win it 25-19 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set started with Edwardsville going out to a 5-1 lead, thanks in part to another Suhre kill and a combined block from Suhre and Isringhausen. O'Fallon then made it 5-2 after which the two teams constantly exchanged points, with neither one gaining a definitive advantage. On the best point of the night, both sides kept going, with spectacular plays both ways before a Harris spike made the score 9-5 for Edwardsville. But the see-saw nature of the set continued until it was 16-11 for the Tigers, when Edwardsville went off on a decisive 9-4 run, with Griffin serving up five in a row to make it 22-12, highlighted by a combined block from Suhre and Gabby Saye and an ace from Griffin. Isringhausen ended the match with a spike that deflected off an O'Fallon player into the net to give the Tigers the 25-15 win and the match 2-0.
Suhre had eight kills and three blocks on the night, while Harris served up 13 points and three aces, Griffin had 16 assists, with Morgan Tulacro also having 11, and Emma Garner had 10 digs for Edwardsville.
The Panthers end their season with a 26-11 record, while the Tigers move to 31-6, and will have a rematch with Belleville Althoff Catholic, a 25-16, 25-14 winner over Belleville West in the final of the West regional, in the O'Fallon sectional semifinal Monday night, with the match commencing at 5:30 p.m. Orlet is looking forward to playing against another good team in the Crusaders.
"We're actually looking forward to getting another chance to play them," Orlet said. "So I think the girls are playing their game at the right time for sectionals."Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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