Central Catholic wins Class 2A state volleyball title

Posted on November 14, 2015

Central Catholic celebrates with the state title trophy after defeating Orion in the Class 2A state final game. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)

By Joe Ragusa

NORMAL – Central Catholic is the Class 2A state champion after defeating Orion 25-20, 25-21 Saturday afternoon at Redbird Arena.

The Chargers (40-1) came into the title game undefeated but Saints coach J.R. Banister said that didn’t intimidate his team.

“Everybody coming in here, we’re all the same record,” Banister said. “Starting in the postseason, everyone is 0-0, that’s the way we look at it.”

The Saints (35-5) fell behind in the second set by six points but staged a comeback, finishing the set on a 12-2 run. Banister said the team has been down before.

“We were in the same place in regionals. We’ve been down in other games throughout the matches we’ve had to get to here,” Banister said. “We talked about (during a timeout) staying in control, getting our passes down so that we could get our middle (blockers) involved again and then just go back to running our offense.”

Junior Maddie Holt had 26 assists and 14 digs in the match. She said she’s thankful for the fan support this season.

“This whole postseason we’ve had great support from our school, like our teachers and all of our fans,” Holt said. “It’s been really nice to have a huge crowd this whole postseason and really our whole season, we’ve had a lot of fans come out, so it was nice to have them here today.”

Junior Maddie Malinowski led the Saints’ attack with 10 kills while Junior Kate Hoerdemann recorded 18 digs and seven kills.

Central Catholic ended its season on a 21-game win streak.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…