Royals record season includes regional title

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ELGIN – Hinckley-Big Rock’s girls volleyball team added yet another accomplishment to its best season in school history.

The Royals’ 2009 season includes a school record 25 wins, a Little Ten Conference title, a Little Ten Tournament title, and now a regional championship, thanks to the Royals’ 25-20, 14-25, 25-10 win over Elgin Westminster Christian in the finals of the Class 1A Westminster Christian Regional.

It’s the second straight regional title for the Royals (25-8-1).

“I just hope that we can keep it up and keep our attitudes where they should be,” said H-BR senior setter Cassie Kroner.

Jenna Thorp had 12 kills and eight blocks for the Royals and Heather Weissinger had 15 digs.

“We worked just as hard as we did last year, but it feels good to be back winning it again,” Thorp said. “We have a good team, we have the potential to go somewhere. But we try to go game by game and work hard.”

For awhile, H-BR’s second straight regional crown looked like it might not happen. After the Royals’ game one victory, H-BR beat itself and had a lot of simple mistakes in the second game, which saw Westminster Christian (24-12) get off to a 9-3 advantage.

“They had a bad game, let’s just put it that way,” H-BR coach Don Watson said. “I think (Westminster Christian) getting up 9-3 just kind of shook them up.”

But in game three, the Royals did what Westminster Christian did to them in the second game.

H-BR scored the first four points of the game and got off to a 9-4 advantage, and the Warriors defense started to crumble.

“Once we got into our game, how we play all year, we were obviously much more successful than we were playing the second game,” Thorp said. “So, that’s pretty much it. Getting our serves in was a big factor, I know we missed a bunch the second game.”

Between games two and three, Watson had a simple message for his team.

“I think basically what I told them was they found out that if you play lousy, a team that’s equal to you can beat you,” Watson said.

H-BR will look for its first sectional title Tuesday, when the Royals take on Arlington Heights Christian Liberty Academy Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Serena Sectional.

 

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