History! Mahomet-Seymour volleyball on its way to state | Sport

EFFINGHAM — Two months ago, the Mahomet-Seymour volleyball team set a goal of winning a regional championship.

The Bulldogs had not won postseason hardware since 2019, despite winning at least 31 games in every full season since, and they were determined to make this the year they added to their trophy case.

Well, they achieved that goal. But that was two weeks ago. And they’re still playing.

MS won its first sectional title in program history last Thursday night with a three-set revenge victory against Normal U-High on the Bulldogs’ home court.

Monday evening we drove south on Interstate 57 to Effingham. And the Bulldogs made sure the ride back to Champaign County was a memorable one, with MS Mascoutah surviving 25-17, 25-27, 25-18 to win a super-sectional match and earn the third Class 3A IHSA postseason plaque from the program within the past 12 years. to dawn.

In other words, the Bulldogs are state-bound. For the first time.

“Isn’t that strange?” MS coach Stan Bergman said after watching his team punch their ticket to the Final Four. “We wanted to work really hard to get through a region. Suddenly we’re going to say here. Who would have thought that? It’s been a struggle this part of the season, but holy cow. Unbelievable.”

The Bulldogs (37-3) are showing how good they really are and have been for a few years. When they finally got past U-High, who sent MS home in each of the previous four postseasons, it was like everything came together. The history continues with each victory and continues Friday at 4 p.m. when MS plays DePaul College Prep (37-3) in a state semifinal at CEFCU Arena in Normal at 4 p.m.

“Coming into the season, some of us had doubts because this group had never made it past regionals,” MS junior middle blocker Lily Bosworth said. “But then the wins kept piling up, and we were like, ‘Guys, we have a chance to go to state.’ Each game brought us closer and closer, and we realized that we are the Mahomet-Seymour team that can make it to state. We have all the players and all the talent to make it, and we just clicked.”

The Bulldogs had a tough practice last Friday after their sectional championship win. Bergman said they were lethargic and looked both physically and mentally exhausted. That showed them how much it cost to get this far.

Regardless, they looked energetic against Mascoutah (32-8) on Monday night. MS jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first set and celebrated with loud shouts and big smiles after each point.

“We came in with a lot of energy,” MS senior libero Addi Eisenmann said. “We had a speaker on the bus and in the locker room. We knew we had what it took, and we knew that if we came out with all the energy, it would immediately drain a team.”

MS cruised to victory in the first set, and although it let the second slip, the Bulldogs always seemed in control. It was always their job to lose the match, and they proved it with another convincing victory in the third.

“This is literally insane,” Eisenmann said. “The whole time I thought: ‘Two more points, one more point, we’re there. We made it.” We worked so hard.”

Bosworth, a Michigan State commit, capped it off by scoring the final three points, blocking one ground ball and knocking in a pair of kills. She has been the go-to player in big moments all postseason, but it is the way this group has come together that has gotten MS to this point.

“At the beginning of the season we talked about being a lowercase ‘team’,” Bergman said. “We weren’t big girls yet and didn’t know how big this team could become. On Saturday we talked about a ‘TEAM’ with capital letters. It was more about how we could grow and have fun together.”

This is as far as any MS volleyball team has ever gotten, and the 37 wins are five more than any other team in program history.

But that’s just the beginning of what could be even more memorable moments. Just as the Bulldogs started believing they could make it to state, they are now starting to believe they can win a state championship.

“We still have so much to work for and so many milestones to achieve,” Bosworth said. “If we push through and get that state title, we can consider ourselves No. 1. We’re not done yet.”