Press Release 11/15/2011

Effingham –

The high school volleyball season is over and the teams that visited Effingham back in September at the Crossroads Classic have once again shown great success in the post-season state tournaments.  The trophy haul began in Arkansas where Jonesboro Valley View captured a second straight 4A state championship.  A couple of weeks later St Louis Villa Duchesne took home the 3A state title in Missouri.  And, on that same weekend, Indianapolis Chatard went to the Indiana 3A title match but fell just short to a top 25 nationally ranked Yorktown team.
In the Illinois state series, 3A state champ and highly ranked Breese Mater Dei wasn’t kind at all to the Classic field, taking out Belleville Althoff in the round of 16, Normal University High in the quarterfinals (elite eight), and Wheaton St Francis in the semi-finals.  St Francis did, however, recover to take home the third place trophy.  Breese Central also took home a third place trophy in 2A competition.  Classic champ Edwardsville made a great post-season run but fell to eventual 4A state champion Benet Academy in the quarterfinals.  Chicago Walter Payton advanced to the 3A elite eight, but lost to Chicago Heights Marian, who had overcome Illiana Christian in the sweet 16. Even the bronze flight teams from the Classic were well represented as Cumberland, Kansas Tri-County, and Champaign St Thomas More all ended their seasons in the sweet 16.
In Kentucky’s single class, Lexington Henry Clay faced some rather large obstacles in its state tournament path, but they didn’t back down.  Coach Dale Grupe’s team had to face nationally ranked Louisville Mercy in the round of 16, and they knocked off Mercy in two sets.  But that just brought them up close and personal with the nation’s 2nd ranked team, Louisville Assumption, in the quarterfinals.  That’s where the road ended for Henry Clay, as Assumption cruised on to another state title.  (On a side note, former Newton High School and University of Illinois volleyball star, Cristy (Chapman) Uhrig, is the head assistant coach at Assumption.) Paducah Lone Oak also advanced to the sweet 16 in Kentucky, while defending state champ Hermann, closed out its season in the Missouri 2A quarterfinals.
In case you didn’t keep a running total, there’s two state champions, one runner-up, two third place finishes, five more quarterfinal entries, and six additional sweet 16 finishers.  That’s two thirds of the 24-team field.  Next year’s Classic loses the 20th, 21st, and 24th place finishers from this year’s field and they will be replaced with three very strong new entries, Naperville Central, Champaign Centennial, and Oldham County, Kentucky.  The 2012 Crossroads Classic is scheduled for September 7-8.

Press Release 09/11/2011

Effingham –

For the second year in a row a new entry came into the Crossroads Classic volleyball tournament and went home with the championship trophy.  However, it was anything but easy for the Edwardsville Tigers.  They had to survive a three set scare from Tri-County just to win their pool on Friday night.  Then, in their first game on Saturday morning, the Tigers had to face tournament favorite Wheaton St. Francis. By the narrowest of margins Edwardsville squeezed out a 25-19, 21-25, 26-24 win.

Many in attendance were convinced that contest had effectively decided the championship as the Tigers cruised past Jonesboro Valley View in the semi-final 25-11, 25-18.  But there were some girls from Nerinx Hall Academy in St. Louis who thought differently.  The Markers proceeded to take the first set of the final 25-23 over the Tigers and were in a position to take the second set as they trailed by only one at 22-21, but the Tigers took the next three points to force a third set.

This time the Markers appeared certain to take home the prize, leading 23-20 and only two points from the win.  However, those points never came as the Tigers rattled off the last five points of the game to seal the victory.

Breese Central, who had knocked off defending Classic champ Moline in pool play, grabbed the third place game over Valley View.  Wheaton St. Francis recovered from the tough quarterfinal loss to capture fifth place.  Normal University High bested Chicago Payton in the silver flight final, while Effingham had the best finish of any of the area schools topping Cumberland in the bronze flight final.