Mother McAuley escapes host Stagg

Updated: October 27, 2011 8:46PM

The final was 25-18, 25-14, a score that indicates not much of a match.

But it very much was a match Thursday night in Palos Hills as No. 1 Mother McAuley beat host Stagg in a Class 4A regional final.

And don’t forget it. Mother McAuley’s Lauren Grady won’t.

“They brought their best game to us,” the senior middle said in admiration of the effort of an all-underclass team. “What a challenge. They did really, really well.”

Played great, really. But the Mighty Macs were phenomenal, especially on defense behind libero Jackie Aird (13 digs), Sydney McPhillips (9 digs), Courtney Joyce (9 digs) and Lizzy Scanlon (6 digs).

“We’ve been working on defense a lot,” said Aird, who has taken over as libero for the injured Bridget Powell. “Everybody was going for the ball, even if it wasn’t even theirs. Sydney played her best defensive game of the whole year, I think.”

McPhillips added seven kills and four aces, Scanlon four kills, Joyce 27 assists and Grady six kills as McAuley improved to 32-5.

Stagg (19-18) was led by Jill Conrad (8 digs, 7 assists, 6 kills), Morgan Thomas (13 digs) and Ali Conrad (13 digs, 4 kills).

The Mighty Macs are to play in Tuesday’s Andrew Sectional semifinal against Marist, which defeated Lincoln-Way East in the T.F. South Regional final.

Stagg fought tenaciously against McAuley during the early portion of Game 1. It was 8-8 when Gabrielle Ennis put down a kill to break the tie and send the Mighty Macs on their way to a 7-0 run that also featured three kills by McPhillips.

McPhillips later got herself the serve with another spike to the floor, after which Scanlon’s back-to-back kills continued what would be a 6-0 outburst.

It wasn’t the Mighty Macs’ hitting, though, as much as it was the defense that, at first, frustrated the Chargers, and eventually wore them down.

But one thing the hosts didn’t do was give up. Down 22-11 in Game 1, Stagg got to within 24-18 before Scanlon ended it. Game 2 didn’t see the first McAuley breakaway until three consecutive aces by McPhillips made it 9-5.

“At the beginning of the match we said some of the things we wanted to do, and then we went out and did them,” Stagg’s Lexi Mantas said. “We put it all out on the court. I think we put up a really good fight.”

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