Bogan volleyball coach Meg Venckus had little doubt her Bengals would reach the Class AA state quarterfinals. The big question, however, was whether they`d stick around for Saturday`s semifinals.
If they do, it will be as spectators.
Jacksonville (37-2) motored to a 7-0 lead in Game 1 and never looked back en route to a 15-6, 15-8 victory Friday night at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. Bogan`s loss continued the Public League`s streak of never reaching the semifinals.
Bogan didn`t go down without a fight, however. Colette Rivera`s jump serve staked the Bengals (34-4) to a 4-0 lead in Game 2, but Jacksonville slowly worked its way back into the match and finally took control after a spike by Rivera (four kills, five assists, eight service points) went into the net, giving the Crimsons an 8-8 tie. Cheryl Carter served two more points and Lori Ludwig (10 service points) closed out the match with five service points, including an ace to end it.
”Not knowing anything about (Bogan) helped,” said Ludwig.
”When we think about someone, like we think of a Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, we come out thinking we have to play our very best,” said Carter.
The Crimsons got by with an average performance Friday because Bogan rarely got anything going at all. Even Rivera`s feared serve wasn`t as sharp as usual.
”I wasn`t nervous at all,” said the 5-foot-3-inch senior. ”It was just one of those nights, I guess.”
”Our serving let down, our passing let down, our defense let down and our blocking was nonexistent,” Venckus said. ”We were terrific all year. We know we could have done better. I`m just sorry it had to happen tonight of all nights.”
