BELLEVILLE • It took six match points Friday night for the Edwardsville boys volleyball team to beat Belleville East, but the Tigers finally did it.
John Pranger's kill over the middle gave Edwardsville a 25-20, 18-25, 32-30 win over East in the semifinals of the Belleville West Sectional. The Tigers (24-1) advance to play Minooka or Naperville Neuqua Valley in the championship match at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Those teams were slated to meet Friday in the other semifinal at Lockport.
"I've never been in a match like that -- not even close," said Edwardsville senior right-side Eric Fitterer, who forms a deadly one-two punch with Pranger. "That's the most intense game I've been in, and it was fun to play in."
It was Edwardsville's fourth win of the year against the Lancers, with the first three in two games. But East, after losing the first game Friday, won the second game and had a five-point lead in the third.
East finished the season at 20-5, with all but one of its losses against Edwardsville.
"They're good and almost flawless, so even when we're up by one and have match point, you can't be comfortable," Lancers coach Stefanie Marlin said.
Edwardsville coach Andy Bersett expected a close match.
"I knew it all day from watching the film, and that's a heck of a team," Bersett said. "They're well-coached, and they've got guys who just know how to play the game right. I'm proud of our guys to be able to beat a team of that quality."
A kill by Nathan Henning put Edwardsville on top 9-6 in the first game. That was the biggest margin for either team until a block by Fitterer gave the Tigers a 22-18 lead.
An ace serve by Sean Lynn made the score 24-19. East stayed alive on a tip by Ben Thomas, but Edwardsville closed out the game on a kill by Pranger.
East started strong in the second game, taking a 6-1 lead on a passing error by the Tigers. A block by Sam Pruett put the Lancers ahead 17-10.
A kill by Pruett made the score 23-18. The Lancers won the game when Fitterer and then Nathan Henning hit the ball out of bounds.
"Once we got some more touches on the ball, we could play our game more rather than just dig it back up and send it over and they hit it back at us," Marlin said. "Our confidence really did improve in that second game."
In the third game, an ace serve by Kevin Ward put East ahead 5-1. The Lancers had their biggest lead at 8-3 when Fitterer hit the ball out of bounds.
"You could see our emotions got to us in that second game," Bersett said. "We got down early, and we come out in the third game and do the same exact thing.
"This was a character win. We didn't play the best volleyball, but I don't think they played the best volleyball. There were a lot of serve outs and things like that, but we were able to get out."
Edwardsville finally tied the game at 16 on a kill by Pranger. The Tigers had their first match point at 24-21 after a kill by Fitterer, but East staved off elimination by scoring the next three points.
The Tigers also had leads of 25-24, 26-25, 27-26 and 30-29, but East stayed alive on a kill by Brad Buchanan, a net serve by Pranger, a kill by Pruett and a net violation by Edwardsville.
East, meanwhile, had a chance to win the match with leads of 28-27 and 29-28. But each time they were foiled, both on kills by Fitterer.
Another kill by Fitterer gave Edwardsville a 31-30 lead. That set up Pranger's match-winning kill.
"After each point, I just told everyone that we needed to calm down and focus on the next point," Fitterer said. "Toward the end, we did."
East made the Tigers' task more difficult by not making an error in the last nine points.
"We were smarter against them this time," Marlin said. "We didn't whale against a 6-7 kid (Pranger) and then get a block back in our face. "
After beating East St. Louis on Thursday for the first regional title in the three-year history of the program, Edwardsville is one win away from reaching the state tournament, which is next Friday and Saturday at Hoffman Estates High School.
"We've got to play better volleyball if we want to move forward," Bersett said. "Each step gets a little more difficult."
Fitterer hopes the close shave against East will help his team in the sectional final.
"Now that we've had a match like this and had the experience of going past 25 (points), we'll be able to handle it," he said.
