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Lady Knights Victorious in Volleyball — 3A State Champs

By LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Nov. 13, the Mater Dei Catholic High School Lady Knights brought home the first-place trophy in 3A girls’ volleyball.

The girls said they were pretty confident going into the state games with one loss all season. However, they knew the team they were playing — Joliet Catholic — was no pushover.

The four seniors on the team were well acquainted with the Joliet, Ill., team. As sophomores, the girls were eliminated in the semifinals by Joliet, and in their junior year, they lost the final match to Joliet.
This would be their year. They were sure of it, but the win was a test of skill for both teams.

Principal Dennis Litteken said: “It’s always exciting when we have students representing the other students at the highest level of competition.”

For senior Ali Mueller, the trip to state was “awesome.”

While team seniors all said they were “pretty confident” going into the state finals, given their record overall, it was still Joliet Catholic they would be meeting, and a victory with them would be sweet indeed.

“It was a very tough match,” Mueller, Kaley Boeckmann, Ashley Rakers and Nicole Strieker said.
Joliet Catholic won the first game and Mater Dei the second game of the match, so the third game would produce the winner.

Throughout their season, the seniors said, the team rarely played the third game of any match, usually winning the first two games.

This time, they would play a third game. “It was crazy,” the girls said, and “intense.”
Parents, relatives and other students traveled to Bloomington-Normal, Ill., for the match, and Litteken was leading the “roller-coaster” cheer with the students.

Coach Fred Rakers, who just announced his retirement after 35 years as the school’s volleyball coach, said the team was filled with talent. He “dressed 15” and played 10 starters.

It worked out well, the seniors said, with girls of like ability rotating in to fill in for those who were rotating out.
“The best thing about being on the team,” Ali Mueller said, “is being on a team with so much talent. When everyone plays well, it makes you play better.”

With their “good work ethic,” Ashley Rakers said, all of the team members “worked well together.”
Kaley Boeckmann agreed, and added: “Everybody wanted to win, and everyone was trying their hardest to make sure that’s what happened.”

Nicole Strieker said the team members also had fun at the games.

While some teams have one or maybe two star players, Mater Dei’s team had multiple star players, making it difficult for their competition to know where the ball would go, the girls said.

Coach Rakers described this year’s team as “an exceptional group” of players. He should know since he has been the school’s only coach. He has seen teams win the state title six times in his career.

“Winning that third game (in this state final) was it,” he said. “A lot of things fell into place for us.”

While the coach expects to have a strong team next year, for the four seniors, that third game against Joliet was their last high school volleyball game.

They agreed “it was a perfect way to end the season and for some a good way to end their career.”
Congratulations to the team and coaches.

Tolan said the group is willing to do other things, but “God seems to like for us to do this.”