Mahomet-Seymour 7th grade volleyball wins Class 4A championship

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

The top-seeded Mahomet-Seymour seventh-grade Bulldogs won an IESA Class 4A regional volleyball championship on Thursday at home.

M-S swept past third-seeded Champaign Edison 25-23, 25-20 in the finals.

The Bulldogs trailed the Comets throughout much of the first set and faced a 23-15 deficit with Edison serving.

M-S scored a point on a sideout, which sent Ellie Barker to the service line.

She was the final server of the opening set, reeling off nine consecutive points to cap the rally. The final two points were courtesy of aces by Barker.

The second set was tied six times, the last at 17-17. Two late service aces by Ellie Dallas helped the Bulldogs secure the five-point win in the set.

For the match, Barker served seven aces and Dallas served five.

Talia Francom and Kylie Waldinger each registered three kills. Francom contributed five blocks.

To reach the finals, M-S swept Danville North Ridge on Tuesday, 25-13, 25-3 in the semifinals.

In the opening set, the Bulldogs landed 11 aces and six kills.

In the final set, Dallas and Addi Eisenmann served four aces apiece each as M-S jumped on top 15-1. Match point was reached on a service ace by Rio Casillas.

Waldinger led the Bulldogs with four kills. Francom and Eisenmann each added three kills.

The Bulldogs (23-3) will carry a 17-match winning streak to the Effingham Sectional on Monday, when they will play Taylorville. Sixteen of the M-S wins have been secured in two-game sweeps.

Meanwhile, the eighth-grade Bulldogs (10-11) start postseason play on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in the Urbana Regional. Third-seeded M-S will take on sixth-seeded Champaign Franklin.

That winner will play in a 2:15 p.m. semifinal match on Saturday against second-seeded Urbana.