A second consecutive state championship match between the
Lyons (LaGrange) and Cary-Grove girls volleyball teams delivered a stunning result.
Lyons, which lost to Cary-Grove in the 2009 Illinois Class 4A state title match, knocked off unbeaten and nationally ranked Cary-Grove, 25-23, 19-25, 25-23 in this year‘s championship match played at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill.
It was the first state volleyball championship for Lyons in 21 years.
"I'm speechless,"
Jocelyn Birks of Lyons, a University of Illinois recruit, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Cary-Grove, which rose to No. 4 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 50 presented by the Army National Guard, was unbeaten in 41 matches this year and had won 57 in a row dating back to 2009.
Cary-Grove's
Kelly Lamberti had 21 kills in the match, and Indiana recruit
Colleen Smith had four kills and 32 assists. But Birks had 18 kills to lead the Lions, whose only loss in 42 matches was to nationally ranked Chicago Marist.
In another repeat of a 2009 title match,
Mater Dei (Breese) knocked off two-time state champion Joliet Central in the Class 3A championship match, 15-25, 25-18, 26-24. Central won last year's title match, 25-20, 25-23.
Chicago Christian (Palos Heights), which lost to Freeburg in the 2009 Class 2A title match, won its first state championship in girls volleyball. The Knights (28-11) defeated
Central (Breese), 21-25, 25-14, 25-22. The team featured two sisters,
Stacey and
Maggie Kamp, and two Kamp cousins,
Madison and
Emily. "Next year I might be the only Kamp," Maggie Kamp, a junior, told the Chicago Tribune. The other Kamps all graduate in 2011.
Scales Mound, with a total school enrollment of 76, fell one victory short of becoming the smallest school in Illinois history to win a volleyball state championship. The Hornets lost the Class 1A title match to
Heyworth, 25-22, 18-25, 24-26. The Hornets finished 38-5.
JEWELL LOYD STARTS SEASON WITH BIG NUMBERSJewell Loyd of
Niles West (Skokie), who played on the USA Basketball U17 women's world championship team this past summer, began her high school hoops season in a big way Tuesday. She scored 45 points on 17 of 31 shooting, but Niles West lost its season opener to Hersey, 66-56.
Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
