Saints advance to volleyball title match, Iron fall

Posted on November 13, 2015

The Central Catholic volleyball squad celebrates after capturing a straight-set semifinal victory over Elmhurst Timothy Christian on Friday at Redbird Arena. (WJBC photo/Greg Halbleib)

By Greg Halbleib

Central Catholic volleyball has earned a spot in Saturday afternoon’s Class 2A state championship at Redbird Arena.

The Saints advanced with a 25-22, 25-21 win over Elmhurst Timothy Christian on Friday. Maddie Malinowski led Central Catholic with seven kills while Erika Moore added six kills and Kate Hoerdemann contributed five kills. Maddie Holt registered 20 assists.

Saints coach J.R. Bannister said the team was nearly knocked out in the regional, and the close call served as an eye-opener. “You get too lax and let teams come at you like that, you get timid,” said the first-year Saints coach. “We talked about pushing forward and being strong and just covering our side of the court.”

The Saints (34-5) face Orion (40-0) for the title on Doug Collins Court at approximately 1:55 Saturday afternoon.

Normal Community (30-10) dropped its Class 4A semifinal in a tight 25-20, 25-23 loss to Glenbard West (27-12). MaKenna Barnhart led the Iron with nine kills as Kendall Sosa and Micki Quackenbush collected seven kills each. Rachel Maguire dealt 18 assists. Ginny Gerig registered 14 digs and Maguire recorded 10.

Iron coach Christine Konopasek said Glenbard West didn’t hurt themselves. “Glenbard West played an extremely consistent match,” said the sixth-year NCHS coach, “and worked incredibly hard to make it so that we were unable to be effective in our offense.”

The Iron play for third place at about 7:25 p.m. Saturday against Cary-Grove (35-6).

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