Mater Dei wins Class 3A MD Regional
Regional Champs — The Mater Dei Lady Knights volleyball team claimed the Class 3A MD Regional title with a sweep over Mt. Vernon on Thursday at Fred Rakers Court in Breese. The Knights are playing in the Decatur MacArthur Sectional this week. PHOTO BY JEREMY CHAWGO For the 37th time in Mater Dei school history, their volleyball team are regional champs as they swept Mt. Vernon on Thursday to claim the Class 3A MD Regional title on Fred Rakers Court at the Dennis V. Trame Center.
Mater Dei is now 31-3 on the season while Mt. Vernon ended their campaign at 27-7. It was the Knights’ sixth-straight regional title.
The Lady Knights have won nine-straight matches and enter the Decatur MacArthur Sectional where they took on Normal University High on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
Regional Champs — The Central Lady Cougars volleyball team claimed the Class 2A Althoff Regional title with a sweep over the host Crusaders on Thursday in Belleville. The Cougars are playing in the Vandalia Sectional this week, starting on Tuesday. PHOTO BY MATT WILSON ––––– Story followup below READ MORE! The Pioneers are 22-15 after beating Bloomington Central Catholic to win the Rantoul Regional title. They ended Mater Dei’s season last year in the Chatham Super-Sectional.
Mater Dei 25-25, Mt. Vernon 8-15: The Lady Knights dominated from start to finish in their championship win at home on Thursday.
Mater Dei never trailed in the contest with the Rams not having a service point in the first game of the match that saw MD out hit MTV 32-11.
“This is a great feeling,” said Mater Dei senior Ava Lampe. “It’s bittersweet that it’s our final match here, but to end it like this and to move on in the postseason feels really good.”
The balance at the net was the difference for MD with seven players with kills and six of those with at least three kills. Senior Liv Goebel led the attack with eight kills while fellow senior Marlie Haag added seven kills.
Senior Avery Patton was strong at the net with her first four attacks hitting the floor in a match where she had five kills and two blocks. Sophomore Reese Kreke added three kills, two blocks and four points.
“Our outsides really did a great job tonight and showed up like they always do,” added Lampe.
Abby Kuhl pioneered the best service night with 10 points and Lila Huelsmann had four points.
Mater Dei left no doubt in the first game with a 3-0 run to start with a kill from Haag starting the run before they extended that lead to 12-4 with three kills from Patton and a kill and block from Kreke.
“We talked about keeping our pace, and not worrying about the pace on the other side of the floor,” said MD head coach Cortney Walker who has a career record of 102-13 in just three seasons. “We wanted to stay clean on our side and execute what we wanted to do and the girls did just that tonight.”
Haag went back to work on Lampe’s service with three kills to get the lead to 17-5. Lampe had five points, 12 digs and 11receives.
After a block from Brenna Timmons ended the run, MD went right back to work with five-straight Rams’ unforced errors as the game was out of reach at 23-7. A pair of tips from Adrienne Rakers ended the game as she ended the match with five kills.
MD ran out to a 3-0 run again in the second game with kills from Rakers and Goebel.
Mt. Vernon got their first service point of the match with kills from Kendall Mast and Lexi Chaudoin as they got within 7-3.
MD got an ace from Rakers and a kill from Goebel as Mater Dei motored on as they led 9-4.
Patton added a kill while Kreke put two more down to join a block from Keelyn Miller to extend the lead to 13-4 on Lila Huelsmann’s service.
Mast got a couple more kills for the Rams as they hung within 15-11 before MD went back to work.
Haag and Goebel put down smashes before a kill and a block from Goebel moved the MD cushion to 22-13.
“As long as we can spread our offense out, I think we are in good shape and we can keep the other team guessing on where the ball is going,” added Walker.
Asia Benson hit a kill from the Rams before a block from Patton handed MD a 23-14 lead. Chaudoin got the last point for MTV with a kill before Patton smashed one down and Rakers followed with a block for the victory.
The match was the end of nine-straight season’s with a Lampe patrolling the back row for Mater Dei with Ava, Addie and Alivia. “To end our career like this and to continue family tradition tonight is a special feeling,” concluded Lampe.
Mater Dei 25-25, Decatur MacArthur 7-18: Mater Dei advanced to the championship match following a two-set win over Decatur MacArthur on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Freshman Emma Kampwerth had 22 service points and 14 assists in the win.
Mater Dei started slow in both sets. The Knights were down 4-2 in the opening set. Mater Dei tied the set 4-4 following a sophomore Reese Kreke kill. MacArthur took a 5-4 lead before Mater Dei went on a 15-0 run to take a commanding 19-5 lead.
Senior Avery Patton had one of her 11 kills in the match to tie the set 5-5. Kampwerth then served 14 straight points to extend the Knight lead to 19-5. Patton had five kills during the Kampwerth service run.
Leading 21-7, Mater Dei scored the final four points and won the opening set on three straight senior Ava Lampe service points.
Mater Dei had a 5-2 second-set lead following three straight junior Adrienne Rakers service points. MacArthur scored four straight points to take a 6-5 lead following three straight senior Zahnya Gibbs service points.
Patton had two straight kills to put the Knights up 7-6. A junior Laniyah Taylor kill tied the set 7-7.
Sophomore Keelyn Miller and senior Marlie Haag had consecutive kills to put the Knights up 9-7. MacArthur scored thee straight points to take a 10-9 lead.
Mater Dei responded with a 3-0 run to take a 12-10 lead following a Rakers kill. MacArthur got within 12-11 before a Haag kill put the Knights up 13-11.
MacArthur went on a 6-2 run and took a 17-15 lead following a junior Trinitee Sutton kill.
Mater Dei ended the set on a 10-1 run.
A Kreke kill got the Knights within 17-16. Kampwerth had seven straight service points to give Mater Dei a 23-17 lead. Patton had two kills and Kreke had one kill during the service run.
A Taylor kill got MacArthur within 23-18 before a Patton kill and Kreke service point ended the match.
After the 11 kills and three blocks from Patton, Haag had seven kills. Kreke and Rakers both had four kills. Junior Abby Kuhl had eight assists and Emma Kampwerth had 13 helpers.
Lampe had seven service points, three assists, 11 receives and seven digs.
Cougars win Class 2A Althoff Regional
Central volleyball players have used a disappointing ending to last season as motivation for this postseason.
The Class 2A, No. 1-ranked Cougars took the first step toward what they hope will be a long postseason run when No. 1 seed Central beat No. 4 seed Althoff 25-15, 25-15 in the regional championship game at Althoff on Thursday, Oct. 29. Central won its fourth regional championship in the last six years and its first since 2023.
Central advances to the Class 2A Sectional at Vandalia. The Cougars played No. 3 seed Teutopolis on Tuesday. Number one seed Newton and No. 3 seed Wesclin played in the other semifinal. The sectional championship is 6 p.m. Thursday at Vavndalia.
Last year, Central entered the postseason with the No. 1 seed. The Cougars were upset by No. 4 seed Nashville 25-23, 29-27 in the regional championship at Greenville.
"Last year we got to the regional championship, and things just didn't go as we planned," senior Lana Kraeger said. "We definitely learned from last year and we were excited to show the work we put in and we wanted to prove ourselves from last year."
Junior libero Madi Redman agreed with Kraeger.
"We all came into this match thinking that we didn't want to do what we did last year," Redman said. "We all had that motivation because no one wanted that feeling again. We had all the energy and emotion so that we didn't have to feel that again."
Central moved to 25-9 on the season.
"They came ready to play tonight," Central coach Kristen Torre said. "They have wanted this since the end of last season. At the start of this season we had goals in mind, and this was one of them. We played with passion and determination ready to meet that goal."
Central ended the first and second sets on 11-3 runs.
In the opening set, Central had a 13-8 lead before Althoff went on a 4-1 run and got within 14-12 following a sophomore Ellie Norkus kill.
Central scored the next two points to take a 16-12 lead following a junior Madelyn Luebbers kill. A Norkus kill got Althoff within 16-13. Luebbers had a kill to put the Cougars up 17-13, then senior Lana Kraeger had four straight service points to push the Central lead to 21-13.
Althoff got no closer than seven points the rest of the set.
The second set started back-and-forth with the biggest lead by either team being an 8-5 Central advantage.
Central had a 14-12 lead when a sophomore Allyson Sellers kill and three straight junior Bailey Gebke service points pushed the Cougar lead to 18-12. Althoff got within 18-13 before Central went on a 6-0 run and took a 24-13 lead following five straight Kraeger service points. Althoff scored two straight points before a sophomore Aspen Hollenkamp kill ended the match.
"It is hard to play for a title at the host school against the host team, that always adds an extra layer of pressure," Torre said. "We played our style of volleyball and our game from point one."
Kraeger led the Cougars with 11 service points.
"I would honestly say that I am better in the serving position sometimes," Kraeger said. "If our defense is off the net and I can't get set a bunch, I'll take it in my hands to get us going on the service line."
Luebbers led a balanced Central offense with eight kills. Gebke had six kills. Hollenkamp had five kills and senior Haley Becker had four kills.
"Having a balanced offense is something that we have grown on from the beginning of the season," Gebke said. "I think tonight showed how much we have worked on having a balanced offense."
Torre said the offense was spread across the net, making it hard for Althoff to figure out where they were going. The serve receive stayed in system, which gave the hitters the opportunity to shine.
Redman led the Cougar defense in the back row.
"I love being all over the court," Redman said. "I love going after every ball and having that mindset that I'm going to get every ball up."
Junior Austyn Benhoff had 14 assists and junior Jillian Beckmann had eight assists.
Central 25-25, Greenville 11-8: The Lady Cougar showed their dominance at the net with their semifinal win on Tuesday in Belleville.
The Lady Cougars out hit the Comets 26-5 in the victory in a match where junior Madelyn Luebbers pounded down a match-high eight kills.
Senior Lana Kraeger and sophomore Abigail Leezer each had four kills. Junior Bailey Gebke also had four kills. Leezer had three blocks.
Luebbers had a match-high 12 service points with two aces while Kraeger had 10 points with four aces. Junior Madi Redman added six digs and three receives.
Jillian Beckmann led with 11 assists while Austyn Benhoff had eight helpers. Luebbers led the defense with five receives.
After a slow start and a 3-3 contest, the Lady Cougars took charge with a six-point run that featured a pair of aces from Gebke and a kill from Kraeger and Luebbers for a 9-3 lead.
Sarah Woods ended the run with a block for the Comets, only to see CHS run off another eight points.
Kraeger had two aces in the run while Leezer had a kill and a block for a 17-4 cushion.
Central had three unforced errors to allow the Comets to soar within 18-8 before Luebbers, Gebke and Leezer added smacks for a 22-8 lead for CHS.
Central ended the opening game with kills from Gebke and Luebbers before Benhoff placed a service ace for the win.
Central ran out to a 4-1 lead with a block and a kill from Gebke and a smash from senior Haley Becker.
Leading 7-5, Central got the next four on two aces from Kraeger and kills from Luebbers and Kraeger.
After a service error from CHS, the Cougars got their distance with a 5-0 run where Luebbers added two more kills for a 16-6 lead.
Ava Schaeffer got a kill for the last point for Greenville with the Cougars ending the match on a 9-0 run that featured two kills and an ace from Luebbers to go with a kill and a block from Leezer.
