Tigers' Isringhausen has 10 kills: Althoff tops Edwardsville in three games in girls volleyball match

EDWARDSVILLE – As the Edwardsville High School girls’ volleyball team played against Belleville Althoff Catholic Tuesday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym, there was a first going on.

It was the first time that Tigers’ head coach Lisa Orlet had coached against a team that her daughter, Mia, played on.

And in this particular match, it was Mia, a junior outside setter, who came out on top as the Crusaders defeated the Tigers 22-25, 25-15, 25-15.

It was a very exciting moment for the Orlet family to be sure, but during the match, it was volleyball first.

“Well, I think, you know, we both understand competition, and when that game was on, we both are going to support our team as best we can, and we’re both going to fight for our teams,” Lisa Orlet said after the match. “I was definitely a Tiger tonight, and she was a Crusader, and there was no question on who’s side we were on,” Orlet said with a laugh.

It did make things a bit more emotional, but as Orlet put it, it was in a fun way.

“Yeah, in a fun way,” Orlet said, “in the sense of we razzed each other this week a lot. Right there at the end, (Mia) made a lot of good plays, so I’m proud of her in that sense for sure. You have your proud moments.”

And Orlet was just as proud of her young team, as the Tigers kept hanging in there against a good Crusader side.

“But I am very proud of the way our girls played tonight,” Orlet said, “the way they pushed through. I think that they’re learning every single game. That’s a team loaded with all juniors, and we had four sophomores and two freshmen on the floor most of the time. I’m pretty proud of them.”

Edwardsville did play well in the first game, but in the last two years, mistakes came back to haunt them.

“I think across the board, we just have the better athletes,” Orlet said. “If they can not be young and be consistent, they definitely showed they can beat anybody. The next two games, we definitely helped them out with a lot of errors and momentum stuff, too.”

The first game started out with both teams trading points before the Crusaders went on a mini-run, getting spikes from Mia Orlet and Karinna Gall to take a 14-11 lead, then scoring two of the next three points to take a 16-12 advantage, forcing Edwardsville to call timeout. It became 18-14 for Althoff before the Tigers rallied, with Morgan Tulacro leading the charge to tie things up at 18-18. After trading points to make it 20-20, a shot that went long and a point from Storm Suhre gave the Tigers a 22-20 lead. Spikes from Suhre and Maddie Isringhausen at the end gave the Tigers the game one win 25-22.

Edwardsville then jumped out to a 4-1 second game lead, thanks to good spikes from both Isringhausen and Tulacro before the Crusaders rallied to tie things up at 5-5. The teams traded points before the Tigers jumped to an 11-8 lead before Gall, Payton Jackson and Abby Lanter helped Althoff regain the lead at 13-12. After the Tigers drew level on the next point, the Crusaders reeled off nine straight points to take a 22-13 lead, changing the momentum of the game and match. Gall finished out the game with a spike to give Althoff the 25-15 win to even the match at one game each.

The deciding game started out evenly, with both teams making good plays. Gabby Saye and Corrine Timmerman combined on a block to cut an early Althoff edge to 3-2, and then both teams traded points before the Crusaders made it 11-9, causing Edwardsville to call time. After the timeout, the Tigers made it 11-10, but the Crusaders reeled off eight of the next nine points to make it 18-11. Althoff extended the lead to 23-14 before a Suhre spike made it 23-15, but a service into the net and a spike on match point gave the game at a match to Althoff 25-15.

Isringhausen had 10 kills for the Tigers, while Alexa Harris had seven. Tulacro and Rihanna Huebner had eight digs each, while Tulacro also had 24 assists. Sydney Weedman had six service points, while Huebner, Tulacro and Suhre each had four. Saye and Timmerman each had three blocks, while Suhre had two.

Orlet feels that playing tough competition and against teams such as the Crusaders will benefit the Tigers down the road.

“Oh, absolutely,” Orlet said. “It causes everybody to grow up, and loves that competition, get used to that fast pace, and get used to those pressure moments, being able to perform for sure.”

And the Tigers did have some very good moments as well.

“Yeah, you know, I think that in that first set, Morgan did a great job of spreading out the offense, and we did a good job of taking care of the ball, and everybody was contributing. And then in the second game, our passing broke down a little bit, and we had a few more hitting errors.”

And a good thing is that the Tigers know what they have to work on, and they go after it in their practices.

“They get it,” Orlet said. “They understand, and they’re taking on full responsibility for those moments, and they hit it hard back in the gym. And I think they get it. I can hear them talking to each other afterwards, and wanting not to have that type of game again.”

And Harris was especially impressive, as the sophomore outside hitter was flying all over the floor, doing everything she could to help her team.

“Yeah, she is,” Orlet said. “She’s hardcore, she’s harder on herself than anybody could be. She has definitely always pursues excellence when she plays the game. I’m definitely very proud of her.”

The Tigers have a Southwestern Conference match this evening at home against East St. Louis, a match moved up from Thursday, and then hosts Cor Jesu Academy of south St. Louis County Sept. 26.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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