The Normal West Wildcats advance to the sectional finals after defeating their arch rival, Normal Community High School in two sets.
Junior Olivia Zeimer got the Cats in the driver’s seat with a kill to get the first set going, and the Wildcats never looked back.
They would comfortably take the first set, 25-14.
“I felt we did a very good job fighting through rallies. We didn’t let anything touch the floor on defense, and we kept pushing through,” Senior middle hitter Ally Highland notes of her team’s performance.
The Ironmen came out with some extra juice in the second set, though, as West struggled to keep their momentum from set one.
Senior St. Louis University commit, Ellie Rink, had some huge kills to help jumpstart the Cats, including one after an early Wildcat timeout in the second set.
Sophomore Eden Hafermann delivered some key tips over the net and combined with Ally Highland to come up with a huge block to shift momentum to back to the Cats when it mattered most.
After an intense back and forth, Rink came up clutch with a game winning kill.
“I think we hit really aggressively and we were pretty disciplined, I think we could work on our serve receive and cleaning that up a little bit, but I think our biggest part is just fighting as a team,” Senior outside hitter Ellie Rink states.
Normal West took the set and match with a final score of 30-28.
Rink came away with 13 kills, 1 ace, and 12 digs in the contest. Zeimer and Hafermann combined for 13 kills.
“I was feeling very hyped. I think the noise from both student sections really brought the intensity and made us fight harder for the win,” Highland adds.
West will play O’Fallon for a shot at a sectional title on Thursday, November 7th at 6pm at Normal West High School.
“I think we’re ready. We’ve been here before last year, and I think we’re ready to compete for a sectional championship,” Highland notes.
