Hickey, Hilltoppers capture 3A crown

Joliet Catholic celebrates its 3A girls volleyball title after defeating Burlington Central.
(Patrick Gleason/For the Sun-Times News Group)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

NORMAL -- Joliet Catholic’s Annemarie Hickey was under the weather Friday during Joliet Catholic’s semifinal victory over Breese Mater Dei.

“I fell awesome now," Hickey said Saturday.

Hickey had 10 kills, three aces and four digs and three other Angels each had five kills as Joliet Catholic (39-3) won its second state title in six years, beating Burlington Central 25-19, 25-14 in the Class 3A championship game at Redbird Arena.

“What a year,” Joliet Catholic coach Chris Scheibe said. “We started as an unknown. We weren’t ranked at the beginning of the year, but I knew we had something special. If any team deserves a state championship, it is this team. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.”

Of course, it helps when that whole includes Hickey, setter Gina Vera (15 assists, five kills), Alyssa Warren (five kills, three assists) and Lainey Wyman (five kills). Much of Joliet Catholic’s damage was done against Burlington Central’s undersized middles.

“We did go after their middles,” Scheibe said. “When we played them earlier this season, they were our first real test. We knew they were a quality team and we had to come to play. But I felt if wee played our style, we’d be OK.”

Burlington Central standout junior Stephanie Holthus (13 kills, nine digs) tried to keep the Rockets in the match, pulling her team within 12-11 in Game 1 with a kill. But a 10-4 run by the Angels put Burlington Central (35-7) in jeopardy.

Another Holthus kill tied Game 2 at 11-11, but an ace by Annemarie Hickey capped an 9-1 run which essentially ended the match.

“Tonight, they served a lot stronger than the first time we played them and took us out of our system a little bit,’ Burlington Central coach Marv Leavitt said. “They also hurt us a little bit with their center attacks. We weren’t prepared for that.”

The state title was especially sweet for Joliet Catholic’s 6-foot-2 sophomore middle hitter Wyman, who turned 16 on Saturday.

“This was the best birthday present ever,” she said.