M-S volleyball seventh-graders win once at regional before being eliminated

Mahomet-Seymour’s Junior High seventh-grade volleyball team snapped a five-match losing streak on Monday (Feb. 26) with an IESA Class 4A regional quarterfinal victory over Danville North Ridge, 25-12, 25-18, at Champaign Edison.

The second-seeded Bulldogs, however, had their season end on Tuesday (Feb.27) against third-seeded Charleston in a 19-25, 25-20, 25-23 semifinal-round loss also in Champaign.

M-S ended the regular season by going 1-3 at the Bloomington Invitational on Saturday (Feb. 17). The Bulldogs opened with a win over Mattoon (25-21, 23-5, 25-13) before falling to Morton (25-17, 25-22), Bloomington (26-24, 26-24) and Champaign Edison (21-25, 25-14, 15-8).

On Tuesday (Feb. 20), the team lost at St. Joseph (23-25, 25-20, 25-19) and then dropped their home-finale on Wednesday (Feb. 21) to Clinton (20-25, 25-20, 25-17).

The team has a 12-14 final overall record.

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The M-S eighth-graders await their IESA regional opener on Tuesday (March 5) at Danville North Ridge, against an opponent to be determined.

M-S (18-6) is the No. 1 tournament seed. The Bulldogs will take on either fourth-seeded Charleston or fifth-seeded North Ridge.

The Bulldogs won eight of their final 11 regular-season matches. The losses in that span were to Manteno (25-15, 26-24) and Minooka (25-0, 25-15) at the Manteno Tournament on Saturday (Feb. 10) and to Morton (27-25, 25-22) at the Bloomington Invitational on Saturday (Feb. 17).

The wins were against Taylorville (25-16, 25-19), Manhattan (25-15, 26-24), Channahon (26-24, 25-17), Mattoon (25-13, 25-15), Champaign Edison (25-9, 25-19), Bloomington (25-11, 25-22), St. Joseph (25-20, 25-7) and Clinton (25-20, 25-18).

Of the team’s first 24 matches, just three have gone to three sets. The last 15 M-S eighth-grade matches have all been settled in two sets.