11/8/2009
Blazers Tested By Vikes
Reprinted with permission from The News Dispatch

Nick Dettmann
The News-Dispatch

MUNCIE, Ind. - Anticipation of the Saturday morning state semifinal match was nearly too much for Class A No. 2 Marquette coach Troy Campbell to bear.

"I almost threw up this morning," he said. "I was physically ill."

But now, after a hard-fought, 23-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-16 victory over Class A No. 1 Barr-Reeve at Worthen Arena to advance to an 11th straight state title match?

"I feel great," he chuckled. "Let's get something to eat."

Even with this being Campbell's seventh straight trip to state volleyball finals, the jitterbugs were there.

"If you don't have that," he said, "you don't belong in coaching; you don't belong in the state (finals)."

Campbell and his team waited a full week for this game. For much of the second half of the season, the Vikings were ranked ahead of the five-time defending state champions. They were starting to take it as an insult.

"These girls were so hyped up to play this team," Campbell said. "Maybe just stepping on the court was a letdown.

"... We knew that we were the No. 1 team. We never doubted we were the No. 1 team. I don't think we'll doubt it next year when people think we're not the No. 1 team next year as well."

After the teams exchanged handshakes and the brief celebration by the Blazers players, students of Marquette (33-6) - about 30 in attendance - chanted "O-VER-RATE-D!" The nearly thousand fans here from Montgomery - 60 miles southeast of Bloomington - didn't like it. They booed.

The Marquette fans didn't care. They again had bragging rights on the Vikings (36-1).

Last year, it was these same Vikings that Marquette beat to win its fifth straight and eighth state title in 10 years.

"That Barr-Reeve team can be a state championship team," Campbell said. "Just not with this team that I have now."

In the first two games, the match had everything one could expect from a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.

Intensity.

Deafening cheers.

Heckling.

The Vikings jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first game.

But Marquette brushed it off, simply because they've been here before, which likely was why after the Vikings took Game 1, the Blazers and Campbell were never worried.

"I think that when we missed our first two serves," Campbell said, "that really hurt us momentum-wise. Momentum has a ton to do with this game."

However, Barr-Reeve celebrated that first game victory like it just won the state championship.

"That's surprising to me because they're the No. 1 team in the state," Campbell said. "They should've expected to win that game.

"I learned that lesson a long time ago. You let your girls celebrate a little bit and get them back focused."

That's as loud as they would get the rest of the morning.

Led by the usual Marquette suspects - Ashley Edmond, Amber Cerrillos and Brianna Gannon - the Blazers rebounded.

For much of the early part of the match, the Blazers struggled with 6-foot-1 middle blocker Hillary Fox. Her battle with Edmond was virtually at a stalemate.

Insert junior Katie Clancy.

She played one of her best matches of the season on one of the biggest stages of the season. She finished the morning with 15 kills and three service aces, providing a strong balance.

Edmond finished with a team-leading 17 kills and five aces, Gannon had four aces, Cerrillos had five kills and Rachel Cox had eight kills.

"Having lost as many games as we did (during the regular season) within those matches lets us have the confidence to know that we can win in four; we can be there in five," Campbell said. "It's not a big issue to drop a game, especially 25-23."

A service ace by Edmond in Game 2 gave the Blazers the lead for good at 4-3. The Blazers led by as many as 11.

In a tight third game, the Blazers broke it open, scoring six of the final seven points to take the game and take the 2-1 match lead.

Another Edmond ace in Game 4 again gave the Blazers a 4-3 lead, which they wouldn't relinquish. At 14-10 off a Barr-Reeve timeout, Gannon drilled two aces in a row. Barr-Reeve closed to 20-16 off a Haley Taylor kill, but the Blazers scored the final five points, including a pair of kills by Clancy to close the match.

"We just shot ourselves in the foot several times hitting the balls out of bounds trying to real big-time line when we didn't have to," Campbell said. "There was no reason to."

In the first semifinal, Wes-Del defeated Indianapolis Lutheran 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21. Wes-Del was playing in its first state finals since 1976.

Contact sports writer Nick Dettmann at ndettmann@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 447.