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Carlinville wins first county title since 2015 – Enquirer Democrat

Carlinville wins first county title since 2015 – Enquirer Democrat

The Carlinville High School volleyball team won its first Macoupin County Tournament title since 2015 last weekend in Bunker Hill. The Cavaliers defeated six-time defending champion Staunton in the final, ending a 10-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Photo contributed.

By JACKSON WILSON
Enquirer Democratic Reporter

The Carlinville High School volleyball team had many successes during Kaitie Hammann’s coaching tenure. However, one of the unchecked boxes was “Win ​​the Macoupin County Tournament.”

With a huge surplus of talent and experience at every position heading into 2024, the Cavaliers felt this would be the year they would finally defeat Staunton, which has held the county title for the past six years. Carlinville did just that, breaking out into a victory song and a victory dance at Bunker Hill on Oct. 12, celebrating a championship victory that had been nine years in the making.

In addition to capturing their program’s first county title since 2015, the Cavaliers ended a 10-game losing streak against the powerful Bulldogs and improved to 22-4 with an exhilarating score of 25-17, 25-18 in a row overall, setting the stage for what is expected to be an intensified rematch for the South Central Conference title on Oct. 24 in Carlinville. The Cavaliers and Bulldogs are the current leaders with 5-0 league records. Staunton is 20-5 overall.

Carlinville prevailed in group play with 25-19, 25-10 and 25-14, 25-16 wins over North Mac and Gillespie.
Staunton swept Bunker Hill, Mt. Olive and Southwestern in the opponents’ pool.

Southwestern (9-16 overall) won three of four games en route to a third-place finish over Gillespie, 25-15, 25-21. The Birds opened the tournament with wins over Mt Olive and Bunker Hill before Staunton denied them a spot in the championship.

Gillespie (7-18 overall) qualified for the third-place game with wins over North Mac and Mt. Olive after losing to Carlinville in the opening game.

Mt. Olive (8-19 overall) defeated North Mac (8-15 overall) 25-23, 25-15 to finish in fifth place.

Seventh-seeded Bunker Hill dropped to 4-17 on the season with a tough 19-25, 25-23, 13-15 loss to Mt. Olive in the knockout rounds.

Isabella Tiburzi (Carlinville), Hannah Gibson (Carlinville), Ele Feldmann (Staunton), Lilly Bandy (Staunton), Gracie Darr (Southwestern), Vivian Zurheide (Southwestern) and Amari Vickery (Gillespie) were named to the All-Tournament team .