NORMAL, Ill. • The Gibault volleyball team picked the wrong time to play below its standards -- the semifinals of the Class 1A state tournament at Redbird Arena.
The Hawks committed 27 unforced errors in falling to Dakoka 25-18, 25-20 early Friday.
Gibault, No. 8 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings, dropped to 32-9 and will play Springfield Lutheran (36-4) for third place at 9 a.m. Saturday. Dakota (40-1) will face Mount Pulaski (26-15) in the championship at 10:30 a.m.
"I've never seen them play like that," first-year Gibault coach Heather Ebert said. "Everything looked so slow. I think it could be because it's a bigger gym. It looks and feels different. I just don't know. We don't have an answer for that. It's not a team that's riddled with errors. Never, never. I think it was a shock."
Since it was Gibault's first appearance on a big stage, senior outside hitter Hannah Wessel thought nerves played a factor.
"It was a huge deal," Wessel said. "I'm still shaking now. It was hard to overcome. It's new for me. New for the team. There's nothing like it."
A one-loss Dakota team deserves lots of credit, too.
Although the jitters didn't show up early in Game 1, they did grab hold after a kill by Gibault's Angela Vieth put the Hawks up 13-12. Aleesha Cleaver evened the score at 13 with a kill, beginning a stretch in which the bottom dropped out for Gibault.
The Hawks then committed eight unforced errors (they had 14 in the game) as the Indians ran off 11 of the next 12 points to move in front 24-14. Gibault managed to put together a brief rally before the game ended with a kill by Jaycee Cleaver.
"Sometimes we get in these rotations where our hitters just can't pull out," Wessel said. "They get down. The noise from the Dakota fans was overwhelming. I can usually just tone them out in a game, like I don't hear anything. This time, it was kind of hard to overcome that. It was a new experience, and I guess we'll just have to bring it tomorrow."
In Game 2, Dakota got the early jump 7-3 before Gibault settled in and eventually took a 16-15 lead. But Dakota went in front 18-16 on a kill and two more mistakes by the Hawks, who had 13 errors in the second game.
Gibault tied it at 18 after a kill by Wessel, who finished with a match-high nine. But the Indians retook the lead for good on a tip at the net from Jennifer Lane and kills by Cora Fiene and Lane to make it 21-18. The match ended when Lane's serve landed between Wessel and Erin Goldschmidt.
"We didn't come and play as strong as we had hoped," Dakota coach Shannon Williams said. "They definitely helped us out. They had some hitting errors. They helped us out at times."
