Westminster Christian’s season comes to an end

Updated: October 27, 2011 9:52PM

Opponents beware, the Lions from Harvest Christian Academy are out of the cage and on the loose. In its first year of IHSA eligibility the small relatively unknown private school on the far westside of Elgin has roared onto the local sports scene by capturing a Class 1A regional title on Thursday night. The third-seeded host Lions did it by knocking off top-seeded and Randall Road neighbor Westminster Christian 25-18, 25-20 in front of an electrifying packed house.

“This is absolutely incredible,” said Harvest coach Kim Floyd. “I knew coming into the season I had some talent to work with. I just wasn’t quite sure how fast we would be able to pull it all together in our first year. But the girls have worked together incredibly hard to make this happen. What an amazing feeling.”

Sophomore middle hitter Sydney Doby led the way for the Lions with 15 kills, 3 blocks, and a pair of aces.

“We’ve always felt we could do this,” said Doby. “Since day one we have bonded together and believed in one another. And we have worked so hard and come so far to just get here that we were going to do every thing possible to win. It was so exciting to see all the fans come out to support us. They were unbelievable.”

The Lions set the tone early by scoring the first three points including an ace from Jade Martinez that got an already rowdy crowd rockin even more. The Lions never trailed and took the lead for good 5-4 on a tip by Doby. Back-to-back aces from Kali Cramer pushed the lead to 12-7. Cramer later added another ace during a seven point service run that put the Lions frimly in control 16-7. Westminster diidn’t get closer than six points the rest of the game.

Midway through game two the momentum swung in the Warriors favor as they went on a 10-4 run, including a pair of kills from Claire Speweik and a couple aces by Cara Tyrell, to pull out to a 16-10 advantage.

However, the Lions battled back behind Doby, who had nine kills down the stretch. Her block kill tied the game at 18-18. Another monster spike from Doby on a set from Cramer tied the score again at 20-20. Cramer then gave the Lions the lead for good 21-20 with a strong spike of her own. Doby scored two of the final thre points on block tips to seal the deal. and sent a mob of raucaus fans celebrating in the middle of the gym.

“We’ve played a lot of matches against bigger schools this year, so we are battle tested,” said Floyd. “So when we fell behind in the second game and took a timeout we came together in the huddle and said it only takes one good hit and then another and then another to turn the momentum back in our favor. And that’s exactly what we went back out there and did. We just started making plays. Sydney was terrific. She just took over and Kali and Katelyn (Floyd) did a great job of getting her the ball.”

Cramer finished with 12 assists. Floyd had 9 Assists. Martinez led the Lions in digs with 10.

Westminster finishes the seson at 18-11.

“It’s extremely dissappointing, “ said Westminster coach Kathy Ramo. “But the kids have nothing to be ashamed of. They had a great season and should hold their heads up high. You just have to hand it to Harvest. They played a tremendous match.”

Cara Tyrell had seven kills to lead the Warriors.

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