Night of sadness ... season of glory

Failure in sectional doesn't diminish season filled with accomplishments

This one will hurt for a while.

But once the pain of being wiped out 25-18, 25-10 by state super-power Hersey on Tuesday night in the IHSA Class 4A Stevenson Sectional semifinals subsides, the members of Mundelein High's girls volleyball team will look back at their 2009 season and the following four words surely will come to mind:

A job well done.

That's what this season was all about for the Mustangs.

Coming off a 13-24 season in 2008, this year's team put the program back on the volleyball map.

Once again, Mundelein High volleyball matters.

"We have so much to be proud of," noted veteran coach George Dressen. "Going from 13-24 last year to 27-10 was a huge step. We brought home hardware from every tournament we played this season, and 27-10 is one of the top five records in school history."

And though Tuesday's match was a downer in every respect, there were so many wonderful moments that can't be erased by one bad match.

"What we'll remember most is what we did at Lake Forest," said Dressen of last week's surprising victory in the IHSA regional. "The regional championship ended a seven-year drought for us."

There wasn't really any point on Tuesday where you thought it was going to happen for the Mustangs.

In Game 1, Hersey was up 10-6 and Mundelein battled back to 11-11. The Huskies then ran off five points to make it 16-11 and the teams basically traded points until Hersey (now 35-3 on the season) hit 25.

In Game 2, Mundelein led 2-0 and was within 9-8 before the proverbial roof caved in. Very few of the points featured rallies as the Mustangs scuffled trying to get serves returned over the net.

"Unfortunately, our most trying match of the year wound up being our sectional semifinal," said Dressen. "Our service-receive was much better in our first match against them (a 25-19, 16-25, 25-21 near-miss loss).

"Hersey adjusted by serving the ball more toward the back line tonight and our passing just wasn't there to get our middle involved."

From the statistical point of view, Megan Barron had six kills and Brittany Jones five. Kelsey Sullivan had 14 assists, and Alysa Fritz dug up almost every back-row ball she could get to.

Brittany Busscher, Michelle Parassinen and Gina Withrow also played but, alas, it wasn't nearly enough on this night.

So just forget it, and think about the 27 "W's" you earned this season, instead.

IHSA VOLLEYBALL SCOREBOARD

CLASS 4A

Stevenson Sectional Semifinals

• Hersey def. Mundelein 25-18, 25-10

• Lake Zurich def. Palatine Fremd 23-25, 25-21, 25-21

CLASS 3A

Vernon Hills Sectional Semifinals

• CL Central def. Wauconda 25-22, 25-19

• St. Viator def. Prairie Ridge 17-25, 25-22, 25-18 PREP GIRLS VOLLEYBALL