Tip one last toast to the queen. She was buried Friday night in the Prairie Capital Convention Center.
The executioner, mortician and pallbearer? Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, which killed a lifetime of frustrations with a 15-12, 11-15, 15-11 victory over seven-time state champion Mother McAuley in the Class AA state tournament quarterfinals.
”It`s like a cemetery in here,” said Mother McAuley coach Nancy Pedersen as she met the press for the first time ever as a losing coach in the state quarterfinals. ”I like it a lot better being the first (winning) team in here.”
Eight times before, Mother McAuley had qualified for the state tournament. Seven times the Mighty Macs had left as champions and once as runner-up. Never before had they failed to take home a trophy.
Until now.
”In Chicago, they might call this an upset,” said Sacred Heart-Griffin coach Helen Dulle, who has taken Blazer teams to the state tournament nine times, but had never won a quarterfinal match since the tournament went to a two-class format in 1977. ”But we won`t.”
No reason to call it an upset. The Blazers (30-8), who had lost to McAuley in three games during the Asics Challenge in September, were steady from the beginning. It was McAuley (33-6), with 47 service and hitting errors, that couldn`t take the offensive.
”We made more errors than them,” said Pedersen. ”Therefore, they win.”
”I knew if I went out and played like I knew I knew how to play, it would be okay,” said Blazer junior Angie Martin, who served 13 points in the match. ”And everybody else had that same feeling. We played as a team very well, we weren`t nervous.”
”We`d beaten them in the first game before,” said Dulle, who won her 453d match in 17 seasons at Sacred Heart. ”So we knew we were still behind the 8-ball. The second game we didn`t play well, and the third game we had to regroup. I asked them, `Are we afraid of winning?` Why not let it hang out? Go for it.”
The Blazers did just that. They put up a huge block with 6-foot freshmen Jenny Wood and Melissa Beckwith and junior Tara Lovekamp, also 6-0.
”They can block without jumping,” Pedersen said.
Finally, the Blazers will get a trophy.
They`ll negotiate the size Saturday in the semifinals. But, just for a second, the Blazers just want to enjoy the moment.
”This is certainly one of my biggest wins,” said Dulle, who said she thinks one of her Sacred Heart teams beat McAuley ”maybe 100 years ago.”
No argument from the deposed queen.
”I`m happy for Helen,” Pedersen said. ”It was at my expense, but she`s had a tough draw every time down here. I think we could have beaten any other team here, bu, give them credit, they were tough.”
