EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville High girls' volleyball team opened up its postseason run with very little trouble in taking a 25-11, 25-9 win over Granite City in the IHSA Class 4A regional Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
It was the start of the Tigers' bid to return to the state finals at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena on Nov. 11-12, where Edwardsville finished fourth last year. The Tigers started off very well, getting a chance to play many of its younger players in the win over the Warriors.
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"Tonight was a nice match to open postseason with," said Edwardsville head coach Heather Ohlau. "We were able to get several players on the court. The team was able to play consistently on both offense and defense."
The Tigers got off to a very good start in both sets and never looked back to advance to Thursday evening's final.
The Tigers are now 18-6 on the year and in the final, they'll face Belleville West, who defeated Alton in the other semifinal in three sets, 25-17, 25-27, 25-13, on Thursday night at home in a match that starts at 6 p.m. The winner plays the winner O'Fallon and Belleville East, who eliminated Collinsville 25-15, 25-14 in the semifinal of the East regional Tuesday, in the semifinals of the Normal Community sectional on Halloween night in a match that will be played in the Metro-East area.
"Tomorrow, we return to the gym to prepare for the next match against Belleville West," Ohlau said. "We have some details to work on to help us continue towards our goal of the season."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
