Suns serve up another regional championship, overwhelm Red Storm to reach sectionals

BIGGSVILLE, Ill. — Tim Kerr willingly accepted the blame.

Ahead of Thursday night’s Class 1A Biggsville West Central Regional championship match, the Southeastern volleyball coach searched through some stats and realized senior Abbey McMillen had missed only eight serves all season and was serving at a 98-percent clip.

He never should have looked it up or mentioned it.

“I kind of jinxed her,” Kerr said with a laugh.

McMillen missed one serve attempt, but it might have been the only blemish on an efficient, dominant effort. The Suns waltzed their way to another regional championship with a 25-16, 25-6 victory over Monmouth United.

“I was a little concerned about having seven or eight days off,” said Kerr, whose Suns (32-5) played their final regular-season game on October 18 and didn’t open regional play until Wednesday’s semifinals. “But we had some good practices. 

“We were really, really prepared to play this week. We had a couple of really convincing wins. You normally don’t win the regional by that much. So I was really happy with how things turned out.”

Southeastern, which finished second at the Class 1A state tournament last year and is three wins from a return to the final four, will face Kewanee Wethersfield at 7 p.m. Monday in the second of two semifinals in the Brimfield Sectional.

“My assistant coach does a great job getting us ready,” Kerr said. “She’s my scouter. She’s actually watched Wethersfield play two or three times. I’ve watched them once or twice as well. If we play well, hopefully we can have some success.

“I hope we continue to improve. We’ve really kind of ramped up. The cliche is ‘peaking at the right time,’ and that’s something that is overused. But in this case, for us, it’s pretty accurate. We are playing some pretty good volleyball right now.”

A little six- or seven-point lull in the first set forced the Suns to allow the first set to end up closer than expected. Still, by winning the first set by nine points, the Suns put the Red Storm on their heels.

“Once that first set was over, I told the girls, ‘I think we may have taken their best shot and ended up fine,’” Kerr said. “Then we came out and really put it to them and played almost flawlessly in that second set.”

McMillen led the Suns with 14 kills, while adding 11 digs and two aces.

“She’s had a great second half of the season for us,” Kerr said. “She played good in the first half, too, but it seems like something has just kicked in. She’s really been playing really well.”

Amanda Stephens had 10 kills and nine assists, while Abigail Shaffer finished with 15 assists and two aces.