Du Quoin volleyball team claims regional championship

DU QUOIN -- The rotation put Katie Smith at the service line and Elizabeth Bird in her favorite spot at the perfect time to close out a regional championship Thursday night.
Smith served up six straight points, including two sick aces, and Bird had both a trademark kill and a signature block as the Du Quoin High School volleyball team put away Chester 25-20, 25-14 in the championship match of the Du Quoin 2A Regional.
Du Quoin hadn't won a regional title in volleyball since 2001 and it was the first in nine years of coaching for Isaac Miller.
"I've been chasing that for a long time," Miller said. "We used to always meet up with Murphysboro in the championship."
Murphysboro is now in Class 3A and won its own regional title in Marion at the same time Thursday. The Lady Indians didn't have to worry about the Red Devils and now move to the Red Bud Sectional.
"It feels amazing," Miller said. "The girls deserve it. It was one of our goals. We're going to stay hungry."
Du Quoin (25-12) jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first game with contributions coming from everyone on the floor. Bird pounded a big kill, setter Meryn Gross and Bird both served aces and Lauren Heape put over a tip kill in that early stretch.
Then after trading points, Morgan Bullar went to the stripe and served up four straight with senior Haley Williams capping the run with one of her five kills.
"Haley had a good night," Miller said. "In practice we call her 'Trigger' because she's always ready to fire. She doesn't tip a lot. If it's on the net, she's swinging."
Lauren Cravens also had a kill as the lead grew to 19-9, punctuated by a big smash from Bird. The lead was up to 22-14 after another kill by Williams.
Chester (16-11) didn't quit and and got two aces from Lauryn Vasquez to rally back and get within 23-20, but a kill by Cravens and an error gave Du Quoin the first game win.
"We never really let them get a good run going," Miller said. "We were able to get a couple runs and then keep the lead."
Du Quoin again took a quick lead in the second game, this time leading 7-1 and 11-4 with Bird putting down three of her eight kills in that span.
Bullar served two aces to push the lead to 15-7 and it was 17-11 after kills from Williams and freshman Olivia Dill.
The Lady Indians' lead was sliced to four when Bird smacked a kill for a sideout and then Smith went to the line for her six-point run.
"When you've got Katie Smith serving and you've got Elizabeth Bird up in the front row," Miller said, "that's a good combination."
Smith's second ace of the run made it 24-13 and Bird was teed up for a big spike to end it but hit into the net. On the next serve, Bullar put over a hit that dropped for her only kill of the night but gave Du Quoin the final point.
Smith finished with 10 digs, while Gross had 19 assists and seven digs. Bullar had five digs. Cravens and Heape combined for seven total kills. Heape, Bird, Braylyn Funk and Grace Alongi all had at least three digs.
Alongi, Heape and Dill are just freshmen. Two more freshmen, Lexi Cobin and Ayanna Dunklin, saw court time in the match.
"Our freshmen have really risen to the occasion and I can't say enough about our older girls for the way they've meshed with the freshmen because that's just rare," Miller said. "It's created a great team and we've had zero drama. I can't remember a bad practice. The girls aren't selfish, they're about team, and that's what I love about them."
Du Quoin advances to face Carlyle in the Red Bud Sectional semifinals on Monday night at 5:30 p.m.
Caryle won its own regional championship with a 25-20, 22-25, 25-15 triumph over Collinsville.
The other sectional semifinal features Nashville against Staunton.
The sectional championship will be Wednesday at 6 p.m.