NORMAL -- Blame it on lack of height. Blame it on lack of overall firepower. Blame it on simply being overmatched.
One thing no one will ever be able to do is blame Burlington Central's 25-19, 25-14 loss to Joliet Catholic Academy in the Class 3A championship volleyball match at Redbird Arena on Saturday on a lack of heart.
"If you look at us, we were one of the shortest teams in the state tournament, but we had so much heart and determination," Central coach Marv Leavitt said. "We are not a team that ever gives up. It was 24-13 (in Game 2) and we were still fighting and battling and that's who we are.
"If you want one word that describes us it's heart. We would never give up. They beat us, but we were fighting until the last point."
Unfortunately for the Rockets it was going to take a lot more than heart to knock off the powerful Angels, who came into the State Finals as the odds-on-favorite to capture the 3A crown. Joliet Catholic (39-3) featured a lineup that had balance, power, smarts and a whole lot of confidence.
The Angels earned their second state title and seventh trophy.
"I think (JCA) got on a little confidence roll in (Game 1) and it's hard to play from behind against Joliet Catholic because they have so much firepower," said Leavitt, whose team was making the program's first appearance Downstate.
"I've been around this game for a long time and it still comes down to serve, serve-receive and that battle they won tonight. All the other matches in the state tournament, we've won that battle. They took us off the net and we couldn't take them off the net. You have to give them credit for that."
Central (35-7) came out ready to battle the Angels -- an opponent it lost to in three games in the first week of the season -- matching JCA point-for-point in the early going.
Central held leads of 3-2 and 4-3 in Game 1 and was tied at 7 before the Angels started to assert themselves. JCA went ahead 8-7 on a kill by 6-foot-2 sophomore Lainey Wyman, who was celebrating her 16th birthday, and never trailed again.
Central did tie the score at 12 after a kill by junior Stephanie Holthus (13 kills) and a net violation by the Angels, but quickly fell behind from there and couldn't recover. JCA would eventually closed out Game 1 on a tip-kill by Katie Hickey.
"We were still pumped (after Game 1)," Central junior Taylor Scully said. "We were mad that we lost. We didn't want to get under the pressure of losing the first game, but we were still confident."
That remaining confidence, however, would be short-lived. JCA started Game 2 quickly and never let its foot off the gas pedal. Sparked by a long service run -- and several booming kills -- by junior Annemarie Hickey (10 kills, 3 aces), the Angels led from start to finish.
At the same time, Central didn't help itself either. The Rockets committed three of their five service errors in the opening minutes of Game 2, contributing to an 8-5 deficit. The Rockets would never get closer than three points the rest of the way.
Annemarie Hickey put the finishing touches on Central's season -- and dreams of the school's first state team title -- with a seven-point service run that included three aces.
"We knew if we played our style of volleyball we would end up with a championship today," Angels coach Christine Scheibe said.
Despite the loss, Central seemed to be able to put its season in perspective shortly after composing itself and gathering for the post-game interview session.
"We obviously would have liked to gone out with a bigger bang, but we did finish second in the state and nobody can take that away from us," Holthus said. "The fact we accomplished this much this season really shows what can happen when you put your mind to something."
Senior Molly Turk finished with 14 assists and six kills for the Rockets and Scully added four kills and an ace. Holthus added nine digs.
The Angels held an advantage across the board in kills (27-24), assists (26-20), aces (6-1) and digs (25-19).
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