St. A spikers reach first-ever Elite Eight

Dustin White

MONTICELLO — St. Anthony High School's third straight upset victory of the volleyball postseason has landed it in uncharted territory.

The Bulldogs knocked off Decatur St. Teresa in Thursday's Class 2A Monticello Sectional final, winning by a 25-14, 16-25, 25-23 and getting to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

"I don't think we were predicted to win by any of the volleyball 'experts'," said St. Anthony coach Marianne Larimer. "We may have been overlooked a bit. Quite frankly, we were hoping we were. That played right into our hands."

St. Anthony (28-9) was the only team at the Monticello Sectional that wasn't the top seed at its regional, but all three of those teams are done and Larimer's club is the one traveling to Saturday's Pana Super-Sectional to take on Carlinville.

St. Teresa (34-3) and Bismarck-Henning, St. Anthony's semifinal victim, had a combined 57 wins against just seven losses this season.

Thursday's contest was a battle of the Bulldogs (St. Teresa shares the same nickname as St. Anthony), and both squads had exuberant student sections on hand to show their support.

It was the St. Anthony Bulldogs who drew first blood, playing a nearly flawless opening game.

"We didn't do much wrong at all," said Larimer. "Everything was clicking early."

St. Teresa was whistled for consecutive net violations to open play, setting a tone for its first game.

The Maroa-Forsyth Regional champs showed flashes of the powerful hitting and stern blocking that got them to the sectional final, but were also forced into a number of mistakes by St. Anthony's clean, efficient offensive campaign.

Six St. Anthony players recorded kills in the opener, while service assassin Jessica Doehring came off the bench and delivered a pair of aces to help stretch a 12-9 lead to 15-9.

Taking one on the chin in the opener must have awakened St. Teresa, however.

The other Bulldogs in the gym came out firing in game two, getting ahead 4-0. A couple miscues got it to 4-2, but 5-foot-11 senior middle Emily Less stuffed two straight St. Anthony attacks and sophomore setter Jordan Wooden dished out an ace to get it to 7-2.

A St. Anthony time out did little to slow St. Teresa's flow; Less recorded another set of back-to-back blocks to run the margin as wide as 10, while senior Haley Fitzgerald and sophomore Alexis Clemons went berserk from the outside hitter positions.

"That's the way volleyball is," said Larimer. "We knew they were going to come back on us. No matter what you say, you're still not quite ready for that kind of onslaught."

St. Anthony kept itself from being completely steamrolled, however.

An Ann Bushur kill followed by an ace from senior libero Allie Kabbes narrowed the gap to 22-16. Even though it never got any closer, it was something for the Northsiders to build on for the rubber game.

"The main thing when you're really struggling is that if you can start to play better and get back to playing your game, then you'll be okay if it goes to three games," said Larimer. "You just have to find a way to keep scrapping."

Each team experienced astronomical highs and extraordinary lows during the first two games, and game three kept the roller coaster ride going as St. Teresa ran to a 6-2 lead, only to have St. Anthony get up 15-10 before tying it up at 18-18.

From that point, St. Anthony got three straight points on a pair of wide kill attempts from Clemons sandwiching a kill from junior middle Michelle Jansen.

An authoritative block from Less got a side out for St. Teresa after an incredible rally that saw St. Anthony playing a ball out of the gymnasium's basketball backboard and back across the net, but Wooden's serve into the net followed by a desperation tip kill from senior setter Mary Jo Bushur got it to 23-19.

Clemons blasted two straight kills, but sophomore Katie Bishop — in off the bench for senior hitter April Wenthe — came up with perhaps her shining varsity moment as she converted an attack off the St. Teresa blocking corps to get it to match point.

"How big was it for Katie Bishop to come off the bench and help us a little?," said Larimer. "April was a little upset with me, but I explained to her I didn't have any time outs left and that we needed to slow things down a little.

"As soon as she understood, she was okay. She did not want to come out of that game, and you've got to appreciate that."

Another Clemons kill followed by a kill from junior middle Holly Haskins made it 24-23, but a Leah Dallmier kill off the blockers and out of bounds ended the match.

"The starters were fabulous, but Dallmier, Doehring and Bishop made big plays at big moments, too," said Larimer. "I'm especially happy for my hard-working, team-minded seniors. MJ, Allie, April and Kaitlyn Connerly mean the world to this team."

Carlinville defeated Springfield Lutheran by a 17-25, 25-19, 25-13 tally at the Beardstown Sectional.

While this is the St. Anthony's first Elite Eight team, it has been to three super-sectionals in 2001, 2004 and 2005. The first was under Jim Deitz, while Larimer coached the other two in her first two seasons on the job.

With IHSA's new four-class system, there are just four super-sectionals per class as opposed to eight, which made Thursday's sectional finalists Sweet Sixteen teams.

Saturday's match at Pana is slated for 7 p.m.

"You always want to go to state, and I'm always really optimistic about my teams," said Larimer. "It's always a goal to go to state, otherwise you wouldn't change anything.

"We were always tweaking things and trying to be better and better, because this is the ultimate goal. Now we're in the Elite Eight. It's all fun now. It's all gravy."

Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.

Class 2A Monticello Sectional

Championship

St. Anthony — Mary Jo Bushur, 1 ace, 2 kills, 23 assists, 9 digs, 1 stuff block; Allie Kabbes, 4 aces, 32 digs; April Wenthe, 1 ace, 2 kills, 14 digs; Elizabeth Jansen, 14 digs; Lena Grunloh, 4 kills; Michelle Jansen, 4 kills, 3 digs, 3 stuff blocks; Ann Bushur, 1 ace, 8 kills, 12 digs, 1 stuff block; Leah Dallmier, 5 kills, 2 stuff blocks; Naomi Gray, 1 ace, 9 digs; Jessica Doehring, 3 aces, 1 dig; Katie Bishop, 2 kills, 2 digs

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