Dream becomes reality

MONTICELLO, Nov 06, 2009 (Herald and Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- MNCOF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- For several surreal moments at the end of Thursday's Class 2A Monticello Sectional final, the St. Teresa and Effingham St. Anthony players remained frozen, as if not sure what to do after the match was over.

Each team slowly formed lines, then shook hands -- like the end of any other match. Then reality hit -- St. Anthony had upset St. Teresa 25-14, 16-25, 25-23 to claim the sectional title. As the teams crossed back to their respective sides of the court, St. Teresa's Emily Less dropped to the floor, tears flowing, while St. Anthony players piled on each other in a cascade of high-pitched screams.

"I just didn't think it was really over yet," said Less, her face red and eyes wet from crying. "But it was. We really thought this was our year. We thought we were going to state."

Less started crying first, but it wasn't long before her teammates followed.

"I was kind of in shock until we started hugging," Haley Fitzgerald said. "That's when I realized it was really over, and that was hard to take."

Ann Bushur, who led St. Anthony with eight kills, admitted it took a minute to sink in that her team was sectional champ.

"I was just surprised," Bushur said. "I didn't know how to react at first. Then we just went crazy."

After each team took turns dominating in the first two games, the third was tight -- coming down to a short stretch in the middle of the game in which St. Teresa errors allowed St. Anthony to erase a four-point deficit, 10-6, and take a 15-10 lead. St. Teresa kept it close, but could never regain the lead.

"We had that drought where we had too many serve-receive errors," St. Teresa coach Jay McAtee said. "We'd been awesome at that all year. But at this time of year, when you're playing a team that played as well as St. Anthony played tonight, you can't have that. St. Anthony deserved it."

St. Anthony (28-9) played nearly flawless volleyball in the first and third games to beat a St. Teresa team that ended 34-3 and had its best season in school history. St. Anthony served aggressively, but had just one service error for the match. It also limited its serve-receive errors, put an effective double-block on Alexis Clemons and hit around Less' block -- particularly in the third game.

"I'm sure there was nobody who thought we would win tonight -- except us," St. Anthony coach Marianne Larimer said. "But we play our best with our backs against the wall."

St. Anthony, which won its first sectional title since 2005, advanced to the Pana Super-sectional, where it will face Carlinville at 7 p.m. Saturday.

"We changed the lineup four times during the season, but we've been playing with this one for about a month now. If I were smarter, we'd have changed it a long time ago," Larimer said, smiling. "But we were hoping we'd hit a peak, and I think we've done that -- and at just the right time."

It was a great season for St. Teresa, which went unbeaten in the Okaw Valley Conference and won its third regional title in four years. It just ended too early.

"The tragic part about sports is that the better you do during the season, the more devastating it is when you lose," McAtee said.

jconn@herald-review.com 421-7971

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