NORMAL, Ill. • Defending state champ Mater Dei smoked St. Francis of Wheaton in the Illinois Class 3A state volleyball semifinals Friday at Redbird Arena at Illinois State University.
“I don't know what more I can say but, 'Wow,'” Mater Dei coach Chad Rakers said. “From Point 1, we just decided we were going to bring it tonight. The girls did. They brought it.”
Mater Dei swept by St. Francis 25-19, 25-11 to reach the state championship match.
The Knights will play Marian Central Catholic of Woodstock (35-6) in the finals at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Marian Central advanced to the final by defeating Marian Catholic of Chicago Heights 20-25, 25-18, 25-23 in its semifinal match.
Mater Dei, No. 1 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings and No. 81 in the prepvolleyball.com national rankings, improved to 38-3.
St. Francis, No. 68 in the national rankings, fell to 34-7. St. Francis and Marian Catholic (24-17) will play in the third-place match at 4 p.m. Saturday.
In Game 1, St. Francis moved to a 10-6 lead after a kill by 6-foot-2 middle blocker Davia Wise (Toledo), who finished with five kills for the match.
Mater Dei came back to even the score at 14-14 thanks to an unforced error by the Spartans, who had 11 in the first game and 23 for the match.
The Knights then went on top for good on back-to-back kills by Kayla Eversgerd and Sam Bedard. Another error by St. Francis made it 17-14.
“I think we just came with the intensity and we all relaxed,” said Mater Dei outside hitter Brooke Schulte, who ended with a match-high six kills. “We calmed our nerves down, and I think we just came out and played then.”
After that, the Spartans couldn't get any closer than two points. The game ended on a serve receive error by St. Francis off an Abbey Winter serve.
“In the first game, it was pretty intense out there,” Winter said of the atmosphere. “In the second game, we picked it up a little bit, so it wasn't as intense.”
In Game 2, Mater Dei ran off to a 7-2 lead that quickly swelled to 19-5 after two straight kills by Eversgerd.
The Knights were able to grab the big lead as setter Sam Bedard (18 assists) made sure everybody became involved in the offense. Bedard, along with Taylor Voss of Breese Central and Sam Epenesa of Edwardsville, has been picked to play in the Illinois High School All-Star game on Dec. 3 at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Ill.
“If you'd had asked me before the game about that score, I'd said you were crazy,” Rakers said. “You can't look at the scoreboard when you're playing a team like St. Francis. You've got to keep your intensity level up. That's what I was attempting to do.”
Spartans coach Peg Kopec said, “(It) was certainly disappointing for us. I don't think you saw our team. But that happens in athletics. You have a day that's not too good. That's taking nothing away Mater Dei. We did not bring our 'A' game today.”
