Suns continue to rise to occasion, fight back in third set to win sectional championship

BRIMFIELD, Ill. — The Southeastern volleyball team’s cardiac kids made a comeback. More than one comeback, to be precise. 

Down 10 points in the decisive third set Wednesday night, the Suns staged an epic rally to defeat Hartsburg-Emden 25-11, 21-25, 28-26 in the Class 1A Brimfield Sectional final. To Southeastern coach Tim Kerr, his team’s renaissance was a blur.

“I don’t know what happened in that third set. I have no clue what happened there,” Kerr said afterward. “I said we were down a thousand to nothing, maybe. But probably not that bad.”

The deficit wasn’t bad enough to prevent Southeastern (34-5) from advancing to the Lanark Eastland Super-Sectional. The Suns will face Sterling Newman Central Catholic (28-7-1) at 6:30 p.m. Friday for the right to return to the state finals at Redbird Arena in Normal for the second consecutive year.

But that super-sectional berth appeared very much in doubt midway through the third set against Hartsburg-Emden, which lost to Southeastern at this juncture last season in Abingdon. 

This time, Hartsburg-Emden (26-13) broke from a 21-21 tie to win the second set. Then the Stags scored the first five of the third set on their way to 14-4, 15-5 and 16-6 leads. 

A timeout gave Southeastern a chance to reset, thanks in part to some sage advice from assistant coach Autumn Schullian. 

“She just kept being positive and telling them to keep it up, we’re not done yet,” Kerr said. “Obviously, that’s the right thing to say.”

Southeastern senior Abbey McMillen concurred.

“We were definitely down,” she said. “We were definitely thinking that we maybe couldn’t come back. But once (Kerr) called that timeout, we all came in together, started thinking positive, got into that positive mindset and we were good to go.”

Go the Suns did. 

A trio of four-point Southeastern runs helped tie the set at 22. Kills by Abigail Shaffer and Amanda Stephens gave Southeastern the first of four match points at 24-23. After Savannah Ramsey dinked the ball to the floor for a 27-26 Southeastern lead, a McMillen kill ended it.

“You can’t explain it. It’s really remarkable,” said Stephens, a sophomore who had a match-high 18 kills. “I think something in our heads snapped and we’re like, ‘You know what, we’re not going to let this be our last game. We’re going to fight no matter what.’”

Kerr and McMillen said the comeback reminded them of the one the Suns accomplished last season against Newark in the third set of the Granville Super-Sectional, when they trailed 19-12. Southeastern went on to a second-place state finish.

Stephens’ front-row presence during the Southeastern rally Wednesday was daunting, according to Hartsburg-Emden coach Jennifer Hayes.

“I needed a buffer. I got it,” Hayes said about the Stags’ third-set lead. “And then I was just hoping to go point to point to point and finish it. And we gave them two four-point runs when she was in the front row, and the momentum shifts again. And we start kind of looking at each other.

“Then it’s just whoever gets the most balls to drop at the end. And they just got two more than me.”

McMillen 13 digs, nine kills and three blocks. Summer Ramsey had 18 digs. Shaffer had 23 assists and four blocks. Addie Beekman and Cassie Crabtree had 17 and 12 kills, respectively, to lead Hartsburg-Emden.

After making two 200-mile round trips to Brimfield in three days, Southeastern is to travel three hours and almost 180 miles to Illinois’ northwest corner for the super-sectional. As Kerr sees it, his cardiac kids might as well also be road warriors.

Based on what happened Wednesday night, the journey might be worthwhile for Southeastern fans, too.

“You should have been here,” a beaming Kerr said following the sectional. “It was really fantastic.”