The DePaul Prep Rams (37-4) fell to the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs (38-3) in the IHSA 3A State semi-final Friday afternoon in Normal. The Bulldogs edged the Rams in two sets, 18-25 and 22-25.
The match was close but Mahomet played a largely error free first set fielding everything that the Ram threw at them. It was hard for the Rams to replicate the energy of the Super-sectional match against rival St. Laurence.
Very tight beginning to the match. Mahomet-Seymor went on a five-point run midway through the first set. Rams rallied bringing back to two but Mahomet pulled away slowly as the first set continued. There was also an uncharacteristically high service errors by the Rams.
The second set was close the whole way. The Rams cleaned up the errors but just couldn’t put together a run to overtake the Bulldogs.
“Ultimately, we fell short in playing the game that we’ve been playing. A few back-to-back hitting errors here and there. Some missed connections with our setters. At the end of the day, just blessed to be here, happy to be here. Ready to come back tomorrow and hopefully win third place,” said DePaul Prep head coach Caroline Gajzler.
“[Mahomet-Seymour] was definitely one of the most competitive teams that we have played this season. They played very clean tonight. They ran down most of the balls, most of the touches. Definitely in the top three of the most competitive teams that we have played.”
“They kept a lot of confidence throughout the game. They didn’t seem jittery or nervous. That confidence ultimately helped them in the end. We were playing a very even game but the confidence and the energy were very different,” said Rams’ senior hitter Amira Boone.
The Rams move on to play Prairie Ridge Wolves (27-14) in the 3A third-place game. The Rams and Wolves had three common opponents this season: Fenwick, Rosary and Jacobs. Both teams beat the common opponents.
“It’s obviously our goal is to be in the first and second place match. Now that we are in the third-place match, I feel like we are ready. So I think we will come in tomorrow and continue making history,” said Layla Christian.
“I agree with that. After the loss today, we will be more aggressive tomorrow. Keep building off what we did today,” said sophomore Kalia Kroth.
“Even though we did not get a chance to win the championship, third place at state is so very impressive. The fact that we even have an opportunity to compete for third is really exciting,” said senior hitter Amira Boone.
“We have built up to this our full high school careers. Which I think has been really big for us. We came in with a really big class and grew from freshman year and built up to this moment,” said Layla Christian.
The Rams have put together a truly historic season going farther in the playoff that any preceding team in school history. In her fourth season as head coach, Caroline Gajzler has built a team into a “program.” She looks to replicate the way that the boys’ basketball coach Tom Kleinshmidt followed a third-place finish with two state championships.
