WHEATON -- Sectional semifinal matches are supposed to be thrilling and nail-biting. Tuesday's faceoff between No. 4 seed Rosary and No. 1 Joliet Catholic was neither.
Both sides showed a lack of excitement, yet the Angels managed to come out ahead with their 25-15, 25-16 win over the Royals at St. Francis.
"It was probably one of the most boring sectional semifinals I have ever sat through," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said. "There was no enthusiasm on either side, and we didn't take advantage of that. It felt at times we wrote ourselves off coming in here and we couldn't get going ... It was just a very odd feeling, a very odd match."
With the win, Joliet Catholic will take on the host No. 2 Spartans (34-2) in the sectional final in a well-anticipated match Thursday at 7 p.m.
In both sets, Joliet Catholic built a decent lead early and never let it go. The Angels never needed a long rally, yet scored their points in small bunches. Game 1 ended on Annemarie Hickey's kill and the second set ended on back-to-back errors by the Royals.
"Nobody was talking on the court," Rosary's Amy Kus said. "Everyone seemed to be beat even before it started. (Joliet Catholic) was kind of intimidating, and we kind of beat ourselves coming into the game."
Emily Weber led the Royals with six kills. Amelia Wegman and Kus each had three and Breann Maryanski added two.
Rosary, which ended the season in a fourth-place tie in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue, capped the year 19-19. The Royals also won their ninth consecutive regional title and will lose three seniors.
"We could have done better," Weber said. "We could have taken that step forward, but we just didn't."
"We had our ups and downs, but it was good," Kus added. "We had a really nice team. I enjoyed it."
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