Green Wave, Warriors fall

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POPLAR GROVE -- For the first time in nine years St. Edward is coming home from a regional empty-handed.

The Green Wave's streak of eight straight regional volleyball titles came to an end Thursday night with a 25-16, 25-22 defeat against second-seeded Rockford Christian Life in the North Boone Class 2A Regional.

Earlier in the evening, the third-seeded Green Wave beat No. 5 Rockford Christian 28-26, 25-11 in the regional semifinal to advance to the title match.

"It's pretty tough to have the streak end," St. Edward coach Jaime Walton said. "We wanted to keep it going, but confidence has been a huge thing for us all year. There were times when we had very little. Then by the end of the season we had a ton of it.

"But tonight we didn't have that same confidence. We played like a scared, inexperienced team."

The Green Wave never led in either game of the title match against Rockford Christian Life. The Eagles broke a 4-all tie in Game 1 with a 7-0 run and never looked back. The Green Wave rallied from an early five-point deficit in Game 2 and eventually tied the score at 19 after a pair of aces from Kristen Haggenjos.

"We started to get a little momentum," Walton said. "But I still saw a lot of blank stares on our faces. They mixed in a lot of tipping and we just never seemed to get comfortable."

The Wave made three crucial unforced errors down the stretch as Rockford Christian Life closed out the match on a 6-3 run.

"You can only blame things on lack of experience so much," Haggenjos said. "Eventually it comes down to wanting it. And tonight we didn't play like we wanted it enough.

"Hopefully now we know what it takes and we can use it towards next year."

The Green Wave had just two seniors this season and finished the up-and-down campaign 15-20.

"We had a lot of highs this year and we also had a lot of bumps in the road," Walton said. "We have an athletic group of juniors that got a lot of experience and I expect us to come back as a big force next year."

Haggenjos had 14 kills in the win over Rockford Christian. After a hard-fought battle in Game 1, the Wave closed out Game 2 with an 18-3 run. Haggenjos led the Wave with 25 kills on the evening, while junior Katie Yohn had 13 kills and 19 assists.

At Winnetka -- Westminster Christian (11-20) won its first-ever postseason match with a 25-17, 25-18 win against Chicago-Waldorf at the North Shore Country Day Class 1A Regional.

The Warriors came up short in the title match against Morgan Park Academy, 25-17, 25-23.

Abby Stevenson finished with a team-high 13 kills to go with four digs, an ace and a block.

Sarah Rodgers added six aces and five kills, Jessica Benson had six kills and five aces and Sarah Russell finished with 22 assists.