Nov. 14--NORMAL, Ill. -- Double-digit loss totals have become an unusual trend for Joliet Catholic's volleyball team in the past three seasons.
Consecutive Class 3A title appearances, though, have made the Angels' not-so-ideal regular-season records no big deal.
Joliet Catholic advanced to the state championship for the second consecutive season, defeating LaSalle-Peru 25-21, 25-27, 25-13 in a 3A semifinal Friday at Redbird Arena.
The Angels (26-12) have won nine consecutive matches, and will take on Marian Central (38-3) in Saturday's 5:30 p.m. title match. The Angels are seeking their fourth state championship in program history. The Angels lost to Marian Central in two games in the regular season.
Joliet Catholic, which fell to St. Francis -- now in 4A -- in last year's 3A final, defeated the Cavaliers (28-11) for the second time this season.
"After having the seasons that we've had that were kind of unimpressive records throughout the majority of the seasons, to get here in the championship game two years in a row is just beyond belief," Joliet Catholic coach Christine Scheibe said. "These girls fought so hard and came together as a team."
Jessica Simon paced the Angels with nine kills while adding 15 assists and seven digs, while Megan Cladis added eight kills and 13 digs.
"Some people were struggling at the end of the (second) game, and I knew I had to get the momentum back for us," Simon said.
The Angels raced to a 7-1 lead in the first game, but the Cavaliers sliced the deficit to 22-21. Cladis, a senior outside hitter, stopped LaSalle-Peru's rally with three straight kills to seal the win.
In the second game, Joliet Catholic stormed back from a 22-15 deficit to take a 24-23 lead on the strength of the serving of Megan Melone and the hitting of left-handed Simon. LaSalle-Peru outside hitter Taylor Gibson (17 kills) ended the back-and-forth affair with a winning kill.
The Angels capitalized on four straight early hitting errors by the Cavaliers to seize control of the third game. Five players had at least five kills for the Angels in the match.
"I hate to be another team scouting us," Scheibe said. "We do use all of our hitters and try to find the hot hand and start feeding that person."
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Player of the match: Jessica Simon, Joliet Catholic, 9 kills, 15 assists, 7 digs.
Key performers: Joliet Catholic -- Megan Cladis, 8 kills, 13 digs; Megan Melone, 18 assists, 10 digs. LaSalle-Peru -- Taylor Gibson, 17 kills, 13 digs; Alexa Zimbelman, 24 assists, 8 digs, 3 aces.
