The Teutopolis Lady Shoes saw their volleyball season come to a close Tuesday night, but they didn’t go down easily.

After splitting the first two games with Paris, the two teams turned in a classic finish. The Lady Shoes rallied to tie the deciding game at 24-24, but the Lady Tigers got the final two points to post a 26-24 win and advance to the finals of the Teutopolis Class 2A Regional.

“We trailed by three (20-17) when I called my last timeout,” said THS coach Tim Mills. “I told the girls they could still win, but only if they went out and attacked hard and fast. They needed to give everything they had, but it had to be clean.

“They were awesome,” Mills added. “They wiped out the three points and tied the match 24. We just couldn’t finish, however, as Paris put the last two points down.”

Paris won the first game 25-18, but T-Town bounced back to dominate and win 25-12 in the second contest.

“Set 1 was all Paris,” Mills noted. “We spotted them six points and never recovered. We made a late push to shrink the deficit, but we were never really in the set.

“We totally dominated Set 2,” the THS coach said. “We got out to an early lead and just pounded the Paris defense and serve receive.”

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The Teutopolis Lady Shoes saw their regular volleyball season come to a close Thursday night with a three-set loss at Centralia.

The Lady Orphans prevailed 25-15, 22-25, 25-12.

“We got swept tonight for the first time this season,” said THS coach Tim Mills, noting the THS junior varsity and freshman squads were also defeated. “Most of the sets weren’t close. I’m not sure if it was the long bus ride or the fact that it was the last match of the season for the freshmen and JV teams, but we didn’t play well.

“The varsity got smoked pretty good in the first set,” Mills added. “Centralia is a very good team and they got up on us fast in Set 1 and we never recovered. Set 2 was all us. We got up early, and although they made a late push to make the score close, we dominated the second set.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t repeat it for Set 3. Like they did in Set 1, Centralia got up on us early and we couldn’t recover. After we got behind, we panicked and then we pressed. That, of course, led to mistakes and Centralia seemed to take advantage of every mistake we made.”

For the Lady Shoes, Kelsey Deters had 1 dig, 39 sets, 16 assists; Hannah Rodgers 5 sets, 3 assists; Holly Heuerman 4 digs, 3 hits, 1 point, 1 set; Emily Konkel 3 blocks, 2 hits, 1 ace, 6 points; Carly Michels 2 blocks, 4 digs, 11 kills, 22 hits, 3 points; Erica Michels 1 block, 1 dig, 23 hits, 13 kills, 1 ace, 1 point; Lexie Niebrugge 5 digs, 2 hits, 1 ace, 7 points; Ciara Roepke 1 block, 5 digs, 13 hits, 6 kills, 1 ace, 3 points, 3 sets, 1 assist; and Kaitlyn Schumacher 1 block, 1 hit, 5 sets.

Centralia took the JV game by scores of 25-14, 26-24; and the freshman contest by scores of 25-20, 25-12.

THS dropped to 18-16 on the season.

Teutopolis will host a Class 2A Regional and will open postseason play Monday. The Lady Shoes will face Sullivan at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that match will then play No. 2 seed Paris at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The regional championship is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

Coach Mills is optimistic about his team’s chances.

“On the bright side, we’re getting healthy in time for the regional tournament,” he noted. “So I like our chances next week.”

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Welcome back Carly Michels.

After missing some matches due to an injury, the junior returned to the lineup Monday night and made an immediate impact.

She had 11 kills and four service aces and, along with her sister Erica Michels, helped the Teutopolis Lady Shoes open regional volleyball play in dominating fashion, topping Sullivan in two games. The scores were 25-13, 25-11.

The Lady Shoes, who improved to 19-17, will return to action tonight (Tuesday) at 5:30 p.m. T-Town, which is also hosting the Class 2A regional, will face Paris, the No. 2 seed.

Teutopolis, the No. 6 seed, used a 9-0 run in the opening game to take control. Carly Michels was serving during that stretch. Her serves proved difficult to return.

“She’s got a nice jump serve and did a good job hitting her spots,” said THS coach Tim Mills. “And it was great having everybody healthy tonight. It was nice having our starting lineup together.”

Sullivan never got closer than eight points the rest of the game. Erica Michels then had three kills to wrap up the 25-13 victory.

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After a disappointing performance Monday night at Olney, the Teutopolis volleyball team turned it around at home against Robinson Tuesday night.

The Lady Shoes prevailed it two dominating games, winning 25-10, 25-16.

“What a difference a night makes,” said THS coach Tim Mills. “As bad as we were Monday night, we were that good against Robinson. Everything we did worked tonight.”

For THS, Kelsey Deters had 1 block, 21 sets, 12 assists; Hannah Rodgers 2 set, 5 aces, 15 points; Holly Heuerman 2 digs, 1 hit, 2 sets, 3 aces, 9 points; Emily Konkel 3 blocks, 1 dig, 4 hits, 2 kills, 1 ace, 5 points; Carly Michels 3 hits, 2 kills; Erica Michels 1 block, 2 digs, 19 hits, 12 kills, 1 set, 1 ace, 2 points; Lexie Niebrugge 4 digs, 2 hits, 1 ace, 1 points; Ciara Roepke 1 block, 5 hits, 2 kills, 5 sets, 4 assists, 2 aces, 4 points; and Kaitlyn Schumacher 2 blocks, 2 hits.

The Lady Shoes, who improved to 18-15, will close their regular season tonight (Thursday) at Centralia. They will then host a Class 2A Regional, beginning Monday.