ROCKTON — The idea of winning an IHSA Regional Championship on their home court is most definitely an attractive prospect for the Hononegah boys volleyball team.
But that isn’t necessarily what’s driving the Indians this postseason.
No, what’s fueling Hononegah is the goal of winning a fourth-straight regional title and continuing the legacy of a stellar class that many of these first-year starters watched dominate the competition time and time again.
“It’s not necessarily the home court but trying to get the four-peat,” Indians’ head coach Annie Curran said. “Because as we've said all year, a lot of people are thinking this is our rebuilding year. So, to get second in conference on a ‘rebuilding year’, it's pretty big. The kids want to carry that on to get a regional championship.”
The third-seeded hosting Indians got one step closer to that goal as they swept an IHSA Regional Quarterfinals matchup with NIC-10 foe Belvidere North in dominating fashion 25-7, 25-6 on Monday night at the fieldhouse on the campus of Hononegah High School.
“Of course (the class before us) won regionals three times in a row, so we gotta keep that going,” junior Carter Freedlund said. “We didn't win conference, so we gotta try to get our revenge.”
Hononegah lost outside hitter Braydon Savitski-Lynde, who led the state of Illinois with 474 kills last season and is now playing Division I at Ball State University, to graduation. In fact, its top three players in kills, blocks, digs and aces last season all were seniors.
With so many fresh faces on the court, there were a few growing pains. Harlem snapped the Indians’ 42-match winning streak in conference play with a three-set victory back on April 4 and then were swept by Rockford Guilford five days later. The Vikings (17-1, 15-1 NIC-1) then beat Hononegah (20-11, 13-3) in three sets on May 9 to clinch sole possession of the NIC-10 title, ending the Indians’ three-year reign.
“Their turnaround time at the beginning of the season wasn't so hot,” Curran said. “We lost a couple in conference right away. It was a big mentality for us because our JV program won conference last year, so they really weren't used to losing.
“Then they ended up playing some of the top teams in the state like Glenbrook South, Vernon Hills, Stevenson and York. They were able to bounce back a lot faster after playing some of those teams.”
After facing such highly-touted competition, Hononegah absolutely sliced through the Blue Thunder, who went 2-18 overall and 1-13 in the NIC-10.
Freedlund got a kill to make it 6-3 in the first set that set off a 16-2 run from Hononegah. Freedlund had four aces in the run while sophomore outside hitter Jack Allen had a pair of kills and junior Alex Alberstett had a block and a kill.
“We have people who can hit really hard and pass really well,” Freedlund said. “Our team can pretty much do everything. It's great.”
Senior Brogan Hansmeier had back-to-back kills to seal the set win.
Curran said that keeping kill leaders Allen (217) and Freedlund (123) will be a key factor this postseason.
“Carter's serve was just consistent,” Curran said of her junior, who finished with nine aces and three kills. “We had been working on some things with him, and he finally showed us what he needed to do. Jack's hitting was pretty good, he was making some smart decisions tonight between hitting and tipping.”
Belvidere North took a 5-2 lead in the second set but Alberstett got two straight-kills to help Hononegah take a 6-5 lead. Allen had four kills and Freedlund added four aces as the Indians went on a 23-1 run to earn the sweep.
While the Blue Thunder made several self-inclifted errors, the Indians’ defense, led by libero Noah Duer who had a team-high 196 digs heading into Monday, did a nice job keeping any well-put together attacks off the floor.
“They're consistent,” Curran said of the defense. “I mean they just were moving. They had to be faster than the ball. And so they were able to do that when they needed to.”
The work of Will Dennison and Alberstett in the middle was also a strong factor in the victory. And Owen Rollinson continued to be one of the most reliable setters in the NIC-10 as he racked up the assists.
“Great setter,” Freedlund said. “He puts it on the money every time.”
Hononegah will face the winner of Elgin and Larkin on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. And Freedlund expressed a desire to roll through regionals and make it to the sectional finals, just as the Indians did the past two seasons.
“A great team win, today,” he said. “We're hoping we can win this regional and hopefully go further than that, too.”
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