Hononegah boys volleyball is known for three things: producing the only NCAA Division I freshman class in NIC-10 history, going further in the playoffs than any other conference team, and narrowly missing out on a trip to the state tournament before coming home in a heartbreaking defeat.
Hononega may be rewriting that third pillar.
Despite the graduation of most of its team, including current Ball State standout Braydon Sabitski-Linde, Hononegah High School is back to where it was the past two years: within a stone's throw of the state tournament, and it got there with two of its most hard-fought wins to date.
Hononegah survived two match points to beat Geneva 25-21, 20-25, 29-27 in the Elgin-Larkin Regional semifinals on Saturday, two days after it had to stave off a 35-33 third set victory to beat Streamwood in the regional final.
“My kids were very calm,” Hononegah coach Annie Curran said, “because of the pressure we had on Thursday, the pressure tonight didn't faze them. They didn't think they'd get this far.”
Hononegah (24-11) will play Wheaton St. Francis (30-8) on Tuesday with the winner advancing to the state semifinals. St. Francis defeated defending NIC-10 champion Guilford, 25-22, 25-15, to end Guilford's 18-game winning streak.
Hononegah is the only NIC-10 team to win a boys volleyball district tournament. However, the past two years, Hononegah lost in the finals after winning the first set. This year, Hononegah has again won the first set and dropped the second in its past two matches, but this time came back to win in the third set both times. Both times, it came after their opponents needed just one more point to win the match.
“It's been tough, but we're back where we left off last year,” said 6-foot-2 junior Carter Friedland, who combined with 6-foot-1 sophomore Jack Allen to score the majority of Hononegah's points.
Hononegah had chances to make it relatively easy: The Indians never trailed in the first set and led 14-10 in the second before Geneva (22-13) outscored the Indians 15-6 the rest of the way.
Then in the third set, Hononegah wasted double match points at 24-22 before fending off two more Geneva match points to win.
“It's been a little tough, but coach told us to hang in there and keep working,” Allen said. “Finally we're playing for real and I don't want it to end like this.”
After the game, Hononegah posed for a team photo with libero Noah Duerr on his shoulders and praised him for his defense.
“Noah Dewar, that guy just kept digging the ball left and right,” Allen said.
Hononegah's last two teams have gone 26-1 and 31-7, respectively, but this team has a chance to surpass them with a win on Tuesday and a trip to the state semifinals.
“We want to go to the state tournament and accomplish something that no other NIC-10 team has ever accomplished before,” Friedland said.
Wheaton St. Francis beats Guilford
Guilford likely missed its chance to turn this into a NIC-10 district final as St. Francis barely won the first set, with Guilford tying it at 21-21 before narrowly losing 23-22 with St. Francis winning the final two points.
“They made a lot of mistakes in the first set,” Guilford coach Trace Noack said, “I think they made two or three times as many mistakes as they normally do. I was really impressed that they were able to stay in the match despite the mistakes.”
The second set ended quickly with St. Francis leading 7-2. Guilford (20-2) never got closer than four points after that.
“It's hard to come back against a team like that,” Noack said. “They're just solid all over.”
“We haven't played any teams like that this year,” Guilford High School junior middle blocker Jayden Webster said. “It was hard, but we were able to cut down on our mistakes. We can compete against these teams next year. We just have to believe in our whole team.”
