Hersey’s boys volleyball team thought it had Sandburg on the ropes Friday.
The Huskies played the two-time defending state champions evenly after a sluggish first-game start, claimed a convincing victory in Game 2 and appeared ready for the kill.
But the Eagles had other plans, opening the third game with eight straight points on junior Chris Schulte’s serving on the way to a 15-13, 12-15, 15-6 state quarterfinal victory at Hoffman Estates.
Sandburg faces Mt. Carmel in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Eagles coach Joann Holverson had a simple explanation for her team’s late revival.
“They got mad,” she said. “I know these guys. I have a lot of confidence in them and I thought we were either going to turn the corner in that second game or, if it went to a third game, that they would come out real strong.”
Sandburg (38-2) roared out to a lead of 10-2 in the final game and never looked back.
“You would think after that second game our motivation level would be huge, but [Sanburg] came out strong,” said Hersey coach Nancy Lill, whose team closed at 25-9. “We were tentative and started out on a bad note with serve-receive problems, hitting errors–just unforced errors.”
Senior middle hitter Greg Pochopien led the Eagles with 17 kills and six blocks, including five kills in the decisive game. Senior outside hitter Jim Schulte had 14 kills and setter Tom Roberts notched 49 assists.
Junior outside hitter Nate Gustus led Hersey with 16 kills while senior middle hitter Ryan Redel added 12.
Sandburg rolled to a 5-0 lead in the opener but couldn’t maintain the edge as Hersey battled back to eventually force a 12-12 tie. The Huskies, however, never went ahead, and the Eagles took the opening game on a Jeff Herman block.
In the second game, the Huskies took advantage of several Sandburg errors in the late going to move from an 11-11 tie into a 14-11 advantage.
The Eagles cut the lead to 14-12 after an illegal Huskies hit, but Ryan Redel blocked a Jim Schulte spike for the game-winning point.
