The Richards volleyball sectional final pitting Sandburg and Mother McAuley had all the ingredients of a 13th consecutive sectional title for defending state champion McAuley.
But the Mighty Macs, despite playing with 10 seniors back from that championship team, fell to the No. 6 Eagles 11-15, 15-8, 15-8 Thursday night.
The Eagles, with only two seniors, wanted one more chance at the most dominating team in state history after top-ranked McAuley routed them earlier in the season 15-3, 15-5.
“We just wanted to show them that we were a good team,” Sandburg coach Joann Holverson said.
The Eagles (34-5) advanced to Saturday’s Bremen supersectional against Providence. McAuley ended its season with a 35-4 record.
Sandburg used a 7-1 run in Game 2 and a 10-2 run in the decisive game to gain command.
Colleen Byrne led the Eagles with 22 kills. Kathy Sulkowski, who transferred from Mother McAuley after her sophomore year, added 13 kills and 18 digs. Sarah Kwasigroch had 46 assists.
Megan Griffin and Maddie Barron had 21 kills and 11 kills, respectively, for the Mighty Macs, who were the No. 3 team in the nation, according to studentsports.com.
“One of the toughest things to do is repeat a state championship,” McAuley coach Nancy Pedersen said. “The higher the expectations, the harder you fall.”
Bill Harrison.
At Downers Grove South: Three words describe Downers Grove South’s Class AA sectional championship victory over Naperville Central: surprising, inexplicable, easy.
The No. 7 Mustangs (31-8) came into the sectional finals as the No. 2 seed behind Naperville Central. The Redhawks were officially the home team, but it didn’t take long to see which team felt at home in the finals. Downers South was a comfortable 15-9, 15-4 winner and advances to Saturday’s Lyons supersectional against Queen of Peace.
“I was surprised, definitely,” said junior Meghan Macdonald, who had nine kills and six blocks. “This is the best we’ve ever played, especially against a great team like Naperville Central. I don’t know what happened. We had the energy, we had the power. We had the desire to win.”
Downers South led from the first point of the first game against the No. 5 Redhawks, who finished the season with a 34-4-1 record. The Mustangs broke from a 4-4 tie with three straight serving points from Annie Mastandrea, who had two aces in the match. Naperville Central got within 11-8, but lost serve on a screening violation. Macdonald followed up with an ace, and Naperville Central never recovered.
The second game was only close after Downers took a 3-0 lead. Naperville Central got within 3-2 on a kill by Meg Eckert, who had 12 on the night, but that was as close as the Redhawks could get. Naperville Central was victimized by its own serving errors and a Downers front line that kept it off balance with tips.
Reid Hanley.
At Barrington: Amy Kaplan had 16 kills and Jamie Hastings added 16 kills as No. 4 Cary-Grove (36-3) outlasted Barrington 15-12, 15-17, 15-9. Krista Petrie contributed 48 assists for the victorious Trojans.
Katie Freese’s seven kills and Kelly Jennings’ 16 assists led Barrington (29-9-1).
At Lyons Township: Kristen Vandrey’s 13 kills, Julie Popp’s 12 kills and Gee Banasiak’s eight blocks helped No. 8 Queen of Peace (30-9) hold off Lyons 8-15, 15-11, 17-15.
Lauren Bruckner turned in 17 kills for Lyons (29-10), which had a 14-10 lead in the final game but could not seal the victory.
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At Oak Forest: Renata Dargan tallied 26 assists, 11 kills and five blocks to help third-ranked Providence (37-2) slip past No. 9 Marian Catholic 15-10, 4-15, 15-11. Katie Freeman and Jessie Janek added 11 and 10 kills, respectively, as the Celtics won their third straight sectional title.
Theresa Coughlin had 16 kills for Marian Catholic, which finishes at 28-11.
At Glenbrook North: Laura Rybacki had 29 assists and four kills to go with Meg Stanton’s nine kills as No. 10 Stevenson (36-4) defeated Mundelein 15-8, 15-9. Jennifer Hynds tallied five kills and five blocks for Mundelein (35-5).
At Hoffman Estates: St. Charles East breezed past Larkin 15-2, 15-6 in a match that lasted 29 minutes. Amanda Rohrsen collected 12 assists, four kills and four aces for the No. 2 Saints (37-2), while Lauren Moulton led Larkin (32-5) with four kills.
At New Trier: Eighth-seeded Maine South stunned Hersey 15-8, 11-15, 15-9 to advance to a supersectional meeting with St. Charles East.
Public League semifinals
Mather d. Lincoln Park 15-8, 15-10: Christine Eberhardt’s nine kills, Angelica Santana’s 14 assists and Dana Vidyinovic’s five aces in the second game helped Mather (6-22) top Lincoln Park for the first time all season.
Northside Prep d. Kennedy 4-15, 15-6, 15-5: Liesl Laurich had 15 kills to go with Ruth Micsunescu’s four aces to lift Northside (26-5) into the title match.
Class A sectional finals
At Seneca: Deb DeGraff had eight kills and four blocks as Illiana Christian defeated Evergreen Park 16-14, 5-15, 15-5. Jessica Eenigenburg and Patti Iperlaan added seven kills apiece for Illiana.
At Somonauk: Erin Borhart had 10 kills and five aces to lead Huntley (33-6) past St. Edward 15-8, 15-7. Lindsey Johnson and Aimee Knott paced St. Edward (28-11) with eight kills and 18 assists, respectively.
At Timothy Christian: Melissa Markowski had six kills, six aces and three blocks as St. Francis (31-8) downed Timothy Christian 15-0, 15-12. Lauren Beck added six kills and Nicole Crnich contributed eight blocks. St. Francis trailed 9-6 in Game 2 before rattling off six straight points, including two kills by Crnich.
Barbie Heerdt’s eight kills led Timothy Christian (26-12).
Football
Curie 27, Robeson 18: Gabriel Taylor rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns in 20 attempts to lead the Condors (6-5). Taylor scored on runs of 76 and 24 in the first quarter as Curie never trailed in the third-round game of the Public League playoffs.
Mario Smith led Robeson (5-6) with 239 yards and two touchdowns in 32 carries.
Harper 30, Bogan 20: Steve Chambers ran for 163 yards and three touchdowns in 25 carries to lift Harper (9-2). Shaun Jaudon rushed for his second TD early in the fourth quarter to pull Bogan (9-2) within 22-20, but Chambers responded with his third score to put the game away.
Hyde Park 60, Marshall 20: Isaac Holloway ran for 226 yards and four touchdowns in 20 carries as the Indians (8-3) scored 44 unanswered points in the second and third quarters. Marshall had led 20-16 with 5:31 left in the first half.
Michael Armstrong passed for 232 yards and three touchdowns to lead Marshall (9-2).
Julian 28, Mather 27 (OT): Julius Strong scored on a 10-yard run and ran in the decisive two-point conversion for the Jaguars (4-7). Strong finished with 55 yards in 10 carries, while David Ingram rushed for 135 yards in 23 carries.
Richard McNeal scored on a 4-yard run to put Mather (8-3) ahead 27-20 in the overtime.
Julian, which trailed for almost the entire game, tied the score in the final minute on Anthony Flowers’ 35-yard pass play to Jermaine Wolfolk.