Bulldogs outduel Eagles for 2A volleyball regional

Millie Lange

It was a battle of titans as Effingham St. Anthony played host to Newton in the Class 2A St. Anthony Volleyball Regional championship Saturday evening at the Enlow Center.

The two squads came in with 47 victories and only 19 losses between them and the match proved to be exactly what area teams faced during the season. It went three games and two of those contests went into volleyball overtime before the Bulldogs pulled out the victory to move on to the Monticello Sectional Tuesday.

St. Anthony won the opener 25-23 before Newton came back to take the second game 26-24. The final contest went to 30-28 before St. Anthony could claim the title.

"I don't know, but these girls seem to play better when their backs are to the wall," said St. Anthony Coach Marianne Larimer. "I just kept thinking we should never have led because Newton just did everything well."

The first game proved what would come the rest of the evening when the two squads battled through eight ties and numerous lead changes before St Anthony's April Wenthe dinked one past the outstretched hands of a Newton player who touched it but couldn't get a full swing before it dropped to the floor for a 25-23 victory.

The Bulldogs tallied the first point before Newton tied and went ahead 4-1 on several miscues by the homestanders. The Eagles pushed ahead by four points when Kimberlin Wallace flexed her blocking prowess. St. Anthony trailed until tying the score at 12-12 on a Michelle Jansen serve.

Wallace pounded home a resounding kill off Wenthe to return the lead back to the Eagles who then held it until St. Anthony tied at 14-14 and 15-15. The Bulldogs finally took the lead on a Naomi Gray serve and went ahead 17-15 when a Newton block went out of bounds. A Newton time out halted the Bulldog flow, but only for a while.

St. Anthony went ahead 20-17 when Newton hit into the net and then couldn't get an Allie Kabbes serve back. However, the Eagles didn't stop play, but forced into a 21-21 tie and moved ahead when Beth Helmink and Joni Hahn put up a block.

The Bulldogs tied and Newton went ahead again, this time on a Whitney Koebele dink to her left. Coach Larimer called a time out and the Bulldogs regained their footing to knot the score when Wenthe nailed one into the back row. The senior then hit one into the Newton block and it bounced behind the defending Eagles to drop to the floor for a 24-23 Bulldog lead.

Wenthe then came up big again on the final point when she dinked and Newton could get only one touch on the ball before it dropped.

St. Anthony seemed to have everything well in hand in the second contest. The Bulldogs took the early lead before Newton went ahead on a Wallace and Sydney May block. But the Bulldogs tied and went ahead on some great net play and some equally outstanding decision making.

The score was tied five times before the Bulldogs started on a run. Kabbes took the serve and suddenly the Bulldogs got hot, scoring four straight points for an 11-6 lead. The biggest lead came at 12-7 when M. Jansen nailed a kill past diving Newton players.

The lead was in the St. Anthony court and it looked like a two-game match would end in the Bulldogs favor. With a 23-19 lead, St. Anthony was headed towards game point, but a scrappy Newton couldn't be put away. The Eagles pulled within 23-22 on a Bulldog error. Newton then knotted the score on a Wallace block and finally took its first lead since early in the game when St. Anthony hit the ball out of bounds, 24-23.

St. Anthony tied on a Wenthe tap over the net, but Newton scored on a great exchange that ended with a tip that didn't go over for the Bulldogs. Newton went out on a kill by Wallace, 26-24.

It came down to the final game. Newton pushed ahead 2-0, but St. Anthony tied and went ahead 3-2. The lead went back and forth twice before the Bulldogs went on an outstanding run. Gray took the serve with the score knotted at 5-5 and gave the Bulldogs a 13-5 lead. In that run, Gray nailed an ace and the Bulldogs block got tough.

Wallace finally sent a kill to the back corner to break the run. Then the two squads battled through nine sideouts before Koebele put up back-to-back aces for the Eagles and pulled the score down to 17-12.

St. Anthony held on to the lead until Newton went ahead 25-24 on another ace serve by Koebele. Wenthe put one past the block to tie the score. The score was knotted three more times before Newton hit the ball out of bounds on a Kabbes serve and St. Anthony stood at game point at 29-28. Kabbes then served and the Eagles got three touches on the ball but couldn't get it over and the Bulldogs won.

"It was so tense that I thought I wasn't going to have to worry about combing my hair anymore because I almost had it all pulled out," laughed Larimer. "Naomi did a good job serving and took us to the lead. She had several good points in a row. Allie was passing like crazy and April got some passes and we were still alive.

"I was pleased for the girls. They are a good bunch who works hard and there are no bad issues. We've come a long way since the beginning of the year and each time they gain more confidence. I'm really proud of them."

Newton finishes the season with a 23-10 record after reaching the super-sectional last season.

"My team really surprised people," said Newton Coach Nicole Underwood. "At the beginning of the year I don't think anyone expected us to be successful. Yet we were able to win the conference. We just dug ourselves too big a hole in each game."

St. Anthony improves to 26-9 and will head to the Monticello Sectional Tuesday to face Bismarck-Henning at 6 p.m. Other members of the field will be Decatur St. Teresa and Champaign St. Thomas More who will play at 7 p.m. The winners advance to the title match Thursday at 7 p.m.

Millie Lange can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 124 or millie.lange@effinghamdailynews.com.

St. Anthony Regional

St. Anthony — M. Bushur, 1 ace, 2 kills, 28 assists, 8 digs, 2 stuff blocks; Kabbes, 3 aces, 26 digs; Wenthe, 1 ace, 10 kills, 4 digs, 1 stuff block; E. Jansen, 17 digs; Grunloh, 6 kills, 1 dig, 3 stuff blocks; M. Jansen, 1 ace, 6 kills, 7 digs, 2 stuff blocks; A. Bushur, 11 kills, 27 digs, 1 stuff block; Dallmier, 2 kills, 2 digs, 1 stuff block; Gray, 2 aces, 17 digs; Doehring, 1 dig

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