Edwardsville Triumphs Over Quincy in Three-Set Volleyball Clash

The Tigers overcome a first-set loss to defeat Quincy in a hard-fought match, showcasing resilience and teamwork to claim the regional championship.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Oct 31, 2025 10:35 AM

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Senior Leadership, Scrappy Play Makes Difference As Edwardsville Wins Three-Set Thriller Over Quincy To Advance To Class 4A Girls Volleyball Sectional

By COLIN FEENEY

GRANITE CITY - The Edwardsville High girls volleyball team used scrappy play, while the seniors provided leadership and courage as the Tigers took an incredible three-set win over Quincy in the IHSA Class 4A girls volleyball regional final 23-25, 25-18, 25-22 Thursday night, Oct. 30, 2025, at the Granite City Memorial Gym.

The hard-fought win gave Edwardsville the regional title and advanced the Tigers into the O'Fallon Sectional next Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2025, where they'll face Belleville East, a 26-24, 25-11 winner over O'Fallon to advance to the sectional.

It was a scrappy win for Edwardsville, which relied on the team's leadership and play from its upperclassmen, especially the two seniors, to pull off the win.

"I'm feeling great," said Edwardsville head coach Heather Ohlau. "Our leadership, our seniors, and our upperclassmen really wanted this win tonight, and they fought hard. We could have given up after losing that first set, but they were determined to make history themselves and make this team the best team that they've been a part of.

"Quincy gave us a lot, they had a lot of good attacks, their defense was scrappy as anything we've seen this season. They fought hard, we fought hard, and it just came down to who made fewer errors in that home stretch."

The third and final set was a see-saw affair that saw the Blue Devils come back to finally forge a tie, only to see the Tigers bounce back to go in front, and finally score the final three points to put the match away.

"That's what you want in a regional championship," Ohlau said. "You want to battle, you want to be able to get in that arena, and just fight tooth and nail to come out on top, which is what we were able to do tonight."

Advancing to the sectional is truly a big step for the Tigers and their program, and Ohlau couldn't be any prouder. She also knows there's still work to be done, first.

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"We're going to get back at it," Ohlau said, "we're going to take care of business, we're going to clean up things we need to work on, and hopefully, we'll just continue pushing through and fighting as long as we can."

Ohlau had no preference for playing either the Lancers or Panthers in the sectional.

"I think any team that we face, we've gotta take care of us, first," Ohlau said. "We'll prepare for either team, but really, in the end, when it comes down to what we do on our side, that truly determines what we're able to produce. "

Ohlau felt the team's leadership made the biggest difference in the end.

"Just leadership, and just giving it everything that they had for their teammates," Ohlau said. "It's just knowing that they're in this together, and what they do is for each other, and that's all that matters."

The opening set started out on the proverbial see-saw, with Quincy holding the early advantage on the service of Kristin Damon and the kills of Alayna Moore. The Tigers came back to draw level at 10-10, and pulled in front briefly before the Blue Devils tied things up again at 12-12 Gwen Zwick then served Quincy into a 16-12 lead, forcing an Edwardsville timeout. After play resumed, the Tigers cut the lead to 16-15, and the set started to go back and forth again, with Edwardsville eventually tying the set 23-23. Laina Bunte's kill gave Quincy a 24-23 lead, and the Blue Devils won the next point on an Alyssa Farlow kill to win the set 25-23 and go ahead 1-0.

In the second set, the Tigers took a quick 6-2 lead, thanks to the play of Ari Fusaro and Livia Goebel, and Madelyn Ohlau eventually helped to spike Edwardsville into an 11-3 lead. The Tiger advantage grew to 15-8 and 18-12 when the Blue Devils scored back-to-back to make it 18-14, but Edwardsville to 24-18, and closed out the set on a Goebel top to win the set 25-18, squaring the match 1-1 and forcing a third and deciding set.

Quincy won the toss and elected to receive the serve, but the Tigers won two of the first three points to lead 2-1, and eventually led 5-2. The Blue Devils fought back to within 6-5, but every time, the Tigers came up with an answer, and eventually went ahead 14-10. Quincy came right back, but the Tigers tried to pull away again, and led 20-17, and finally tied the set 22-22 on a combined block by Madison Loos and Jade Brown. The Tigers went ahead on a Lucy Malawy kill 23-22, and won the set and match on back-to-back service aces by Ohlau to win 26-22 and the match 2-1, moving on to the sectional.

Savannah Ford ended up with nine kills for the Tigers. At the same time, Goebel had eight, Ciara Cunningham had seven, many in clutch situations, Ava Cox had five kills, Haley Huling served up eight points and two aces, Ohlau had seven points and three aces, Eve Eberlin had six points and two aces, Ford served up five points, both Goebel and Cunningham had three blocks each. In contrast, both Fusaro and Ohlau had two blocks apiece; Ohlau also had 19 digs, while Malawy had 14 digs and 16 assists, while Ford came up with 15 assists.

The Blue Devils finish their season up at 29-7, while the Tigers are now 25-11 and meet the Lancers in a rubber match Tuesday night in the sectional semifinal at the OTHS Panther Dome at 6 p.m., with the winner meeting the winner of Normal Community, who won their own regional over New Lenox Lincoln-Way West 28-26, 26-24, and Minooka, who defeated Bradley-Bourbonnais to win their own regional 25-12, 25-9, in the Round of 16 sectional final match Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.

The winner of the O'Fallon Sectional goes to the Bradley-Bourbonnais super-sectional state quarterfinal match against the winner of the Richton Park Rich Township sectional on Nov. 10 at 6 p.m., with the state finals set for Nov. 14-15 at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.