May 17, 2012

Perfection ends for Mater Dei volleyball team

BREESE — For the second straight year, St. Joseph’s Academy broke up the Mater Dei Knights’ bid for a perfect season.

Middle blocker Elise Ames had eight kills and St. Joseph’s Academy, of St. Louis, played sparkling defense in beating the Knights 25-18, 25-22 Saturday afternoon in a battle of bi-state volleyball powerhouses.

The loss ended the defending Class 3A state champion Knights’ 46-game winning streak that started after their 25-15, 25-17 loss to St. Joseph’s last year.

“The girls wanted this one, they wanted this one pretty bad because of the way this went down last year,” Mater Dei coach Chad Rakers said. “Good teams find a way to regroup, find a way to pick up the pieces of the puzzle and move on. That’s our job now. That’s our job come Monday.

“It’s time to pick up those pieces and find out how they fit back together again.”

Rakers didn’t think the Knights (25-1), who committed 18 errors, played their best match.

“Obviously, we had a lot of unforced errors, and that’s very uncommon,” Rakers said. “They were a lot of balls that normally get put away, that just didn’t get put away today. That happens.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/10/09/1892960/perfection-ends-for-mater-dei.html#ixzz1aLG82EML

Nationally Ranked Breese Mater Dei wins Tiger Classic

Mater Dei flexes its muscles 

BY STEVE KORTE - News-Democrat
EDWARDSVILLE — It might be early in the season, but the Mater Dei Knights were in midseason form in claiming the championship of the Tiger Classic for the second straight year.

Brooke Schulte had seven kills and Kayla Eversgerd added six kills as the Knights beat the Edwardsville Tigers 25-15, 25-17 Saturday in the championship match.

It was a battle of the two best teams in the metro-east and possibly two of the best in the country.

The Knights were ranked 29th in the nation, while the Tigers were ranked 38th in a preseason Top 100 poll done by prepvolleyball.com.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/09/04/1846501/mater-dei-flexes-its-muscles.html#ixzz1XEeAHGo8