PATRICK SCHMIEDT Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, October 29, 2006 12:00 am
As Sidney Materi went up for the kill that would give her Sundance team the Class 2A state volleyball championship, nothing unusual was going through her mind.
"I treated it like any other time," Materi said. "Just get up and kill it."
She did, and she killed a lot more in the process -- like Sundance's inability to beat Big Horn this season, a state championship drought of five years and the Rams' attempt to seize momentum and force a fifth game.
It was the seventh time Big Horn and Sundance had played this season; the Bulldogs won the first but the Rams had won the next five. The Bulldogs put a stop to that, though, Saturday at the Casper Events Center, by putting those past losses in the past.
"Every time, we went out with the same mentality, 'Kill 'em, kill 'em, kill 'em,'" Materi said. "And we always came up short.
"We knew this was our last chance and we knew we could beat them."
Big Horn won the first game 25-23, but the Bulldogs took big leads in the second, third and fourth games and held off the Rams' rallies each time.
"We just dug in and played to win and believed in ourselves," Sundance coach Greta Crawford said.
For Big Horn coach Mike Daley, the reason for Big Horn's inability to finish off the Bulldogs was a bit different.
"I think, more than anything, it came down to unforced errors," Daley said. "When we wanted it to go our way, (but) it didn't."
Materi, a junior, had 16 kills and led Sundance with 24 digs. Chaisley Gill had 17 kills, 15 digs and six blocks, and Sheena Peplow added 17 digs.
Freshman Callie Crouse had 10 kills for the Rams.
It was Sundance's first state title since 2001. Big Horn was trying for its first title since 2000, when the Rams beat Sundance in the championship game.
Contact high school sports coordinator Patrick Schmiedt at (307) 266-0615 or patrick.schmiedt@casperstartribune.net