ST. PAUL - No. 1 seeded Jordan and its senior Brittany Chambers were too much for the Marshall Tigers in the Class AA State Championship game Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center. The Tigers were defeated 3-1.
Marshall was in search for its third state tournament championship and second in as many seasons, but the hard hitting of Chambers could not be halted, only stopped for short periods of time.
"Our goal is the state tournament, especially in the Marshall volleyball program," she said. "We have very high expectations and the goal is to get to state and win."
Game 1 proved to be the most important in the match. The scoring went back-and-forth for much of the game and, although Marshall scored first, Jordan would make several runs against the Tigers.
The Jaguars would go on a 5-0 run to jump ahead 9-4, and after a timeout by Marshall, the Tigers got a side-out. But Chambers' kill would give the serve right back to Jordan.
Marshall would continue to battle, exchanging points with Jordan, but the Jaguars extended the lead to 17-11.
Senior Danielle Gladis would stuff Chambers to give her team the side-out with a score of 18-13.
When Birath stepped up to the service line her team was down 21-16. The Tigers however, were not going anywhere.
"I knew I had to serve aggressive," she said. "We really wanted game one, we wanted it to be our game."
Senior Hope Weilage had two consecutive kills, set up from Kelsey Deragisch. Birath then came up with a n ace, making it 21-18 Jordan. Jordan took a timeout to try to slow the momentum.
Jordan's timeout didn't seem to faze Birath, who served an immediate ace. Another kill from Weilage, this time from Kayla Wallerich and two consecutive service aces from Birath gave Marshall a 22-21 lead.
"Everyone pulled their weight at that point in the game," Birath said. "I wouldn't have been able to serve an 8-0 run without my team."
Chambers would tie the game at 22-all on a kill and would then get take the ball to the service line. Chambers serve went directly into the net, giving the ball right back to Marshall.
After Jordan used its final timeout, Wallerich served up her first ace of the game bring the Tigers to gamepoint, 24-22.
Two consecutive kills by Jordan's Leah Dietel tied the game back up at 24-all. Jordan's Michelle O'Malley's kill would give Jordan the gamepoint advantage at 25-24. After a short rally, Dietel would get the kill to give Jordan Game 1, 26-24.
"We really let that first set get away," head coach Dan Westby said. "After being down for much of that set, we really did a nice job of battling back. Leading 24-22, we just couldn't get the defensive stop we needed."
Marshall wasn't done yet.
Senior Karli Vandeputte served the Tigers to a quick 2-0 lead including an ace. A side out and a Chambers service error brought the Tigers lead to 3-1. The Tigers would maintain their two-point lead until a 7-all tie.
The teams continued to trade points until Weilage came up with a big block on Chambers. Junior Rachel Westby would serve the Tigers to a 19-17 lead. A kill by junior Dani Beekman would force Jordan to call a timeout.
Jordan climbed back into the game with two kills from Dietel cutting the Marshall lead to only one, 23-22. Westby's kill from Wallerich would give the Tigers a gamepoint advantage. After a Wallerich serve and an attack error by Jordan, Marshall would clinch Game 2, by a score of 25-22.
"We competed hard in that second set," Westby said. "After an emotional loss in the first set, we felt good about our effort in coming back to even things at one set apiece."
A 9-all tie with the momentum shifting from one side of the net to the other, gave Marshall the opportunity to stay right with Jordan in Game 3.
But several attack errors combined with Chambers in the front row were too much for the Tigers. The Jaguars went on a 3-0 run, bringing the score to 13-10. Weilage brought the serve to the Marshall side with a kill. But Dietel's kill gave the ball right back to the Jaguars.
"It was the final match of the season and we gave it our all," she said. "We just couldn't get going again after the first couple games."
After a Marshall timeout, the Jaguars went on another 3-0 run. A service error gave Marshall a chance to make a run of its own, but Dietel would come up with two kills followed by an attack error from Marshall giving Jordan a 20-13 lead.
"Midway through the third set, we just stopped competing as hard as we needed to. We sat back and waited for them to make mistakes," Westby said. "That wasn't going to happen. We ran into a real buzz-saw. Jordan was a pretty determined group. They could taste a championship and they went out and earned it."
Chambers would get four of the next five points on kills for the Jaguars including game point giving Jordan the 25-17 win. It was all Chambers in Game 4. She had 10 kills including the final two-points of the game. The Jaguars won 25-14, winning their second state championship in three years.
"The outplayed us in every aspect of the game. It's really unfortunate," Westby said. "If you look at the stat sheet, the only category that we outplayed them was in serving. We had 10 service aces and they had just three. That's probably what made things close in the first two sets. Beyond that, it was all Jordan."
"You learn so many life lessons from teammates and coaches," she said. "Some things I learned were, you can always push a little harder and do a little better. There is always room to improve and always be there for teammates."
Westby and Weilage led the way for the Tigers with 10 kills each. Westby added 12 digs, while Weilage had three blocks. Gladis added seven kills. Birath had 19 digs and five service aces. Wallerich had 18 set assists, six kills, two service aces and 15 digs. Deragisch had 19 set assists and eight digs for the Tigers.
"Volleyball taught me to put everything you have into everything you do and we did that on Saturday," she said.
Wallerich and Westby were named to the 2008 Class AA All-Tournament team for the second consecutive season.
"Overall it was another outstanding season for our kids. They had pretty high expectations," Westby said. "Their goal was to win the state championship. To fall one win short hurts, but it shouldn't take away from all of the success our kids had this season. We were able to win our eighth straight Southwest Conference title and we qualified for our eighth straight trip to the state tournament. Those eight straight trips to state are the most for any team in the state. That feels pretty good."
Marshall 24 25 17 14
Jordan26 22 25 25
Individual Statistics
Service Aces: M-Shay Birath 5, Karli Vandeputte 3, Kayla Wallerich 2; J-Brittany Chambers 1, Leah Dietel 1, Ashley Hartman 1.
Kills: M-Hope Weilage 10, Rachel Westby 10, Dee Gladis 7, Wallerich 6; J-Chambers 33, Hartman 24.
Assists: M-Kelsey Deragisch 19, Wallerich 18; J-Emilaa Gutzmer 50.
Digs: M-Birath 19, Wallerich 15, Westby 12, Deragisch 8, Netzke 6; J-Chambers 20, Michelle O'Malley 20, Diete; 18, Gutzmer 11.
Blocks (Solo-Assist): Weilage 1-2, Gladis 0-2, Wallerich 0-1, Westby 0-1, Tina Tauer 0-1, Dani Beekman 0-1; J-Dietel 1-2, Chambers 0-4, Marsha Wolf 0-3, Gutzmer 0-2, Ashley Hartman 0-1.
