Champion Metea Valley High School savors; Batavia High School coach grateful

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Metea Valley High School in Aurora is in its 12th school year and is a part of District 204. Celebrations are under way with the school’s first athletic State tournament trophy. The Mustangs wasted no time in going right to the top. The girls volleyball team captured the Class 4A State championship Saturday at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal.

Metea Valley won regional, sectional, and super-sectional championships and won two games in Normal to earn the school’s first State championship trophy for entry into the trophy case. See photo of the team members with the trophy at thevoice.us/metea-valley-high-school-girls-volleyball-class-4a-state-champion. The team finished with an eye-popping 40-2 overall record.

In the championship match, Metea Valley fell behind volleyball icon Mother McAuley, 25-15, and rallied for a triumphant 25-18, 25-17 score.

Pivotal plays?

“Emily Kosinski’s serving seven straight points to put us ahead in the second set,” said head coach David MacDonald. “We won some long rallies in the third set with great defensive plays by Morgan Rank.”

Team leaders in the memorable season have been team captains Morgan Rank, Regan Holmer, and Emma Bludgen. Kira Hutson was player of the year in both the DuPage Valley Conference and in the Daily Herald newspaper.

Metea Valley won the semifinal Friday against Barrington, 25-23, 25-13. Barrington defeated Edwardsville for third place Saturday, 25-22, 15-25, 26-24.

In Class 3A, Nazareth Academy of LaGrange Park, defeated Belvidere North in the championship, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21. Joliet Catholic, which fell to Nazareth in a semifinal, 25-21, 25-15, finished in fourth place after falling to Normal Community West, 25-20, 26-24, in the third place match.

In Class 2A, Montini Catholic of Lombard won the championship, 25-16, 25-17 against Pleasant Plains, after a semifinal triumph against Breese Mater Dei, 25-11, 25-10.

Sir Thomas More of Champaign captured the Class 1A State championship.

• Batavia High School head football coach Dennis Piron was reflective recently following the team’s close call against Mt. Carmel in Chicago in a Class 7A second round game November 5. Mt. Carmel won, 16-14. Batavia led late, in fact, led when time expired in regulation, 14-10, and Mt. Carmel deep in Batavia territory. A Mt. Carmel pass into the end zone produced a flag and a pass interference penalty against Batavia which put the ball at the Batavia nine. A run up the middle in an untimed play ended in the end zone for Mt. Carmel’s victory. Batavia entered the game with a 10-0 record, including one playoff victory.

“I am very proud of the composure and focus our kids showed and coaches showed in a very tough environment (at Mt. Carmel) that night,” Piron said. We had a very tough last two years, like most high school teams and that loss on that night was one of the more emotional and difficult we’ve experienced as a program in the last 10 years.

“I’m grateful for the support and positive feedback we received from so many coaches and former players around the country. Just wished we could’ve got it done that night, but for no lack of effort or preparation, that’s for sure.”

• Five high school football teams in The Voice area remain in the playoffs semifinals and there are three Division III college teams in the first round.

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