Historic Day for Knights Volleyball Team

NORMAL -- Saturday is going to go down as an historic day for Chicago Christian athletics for several different reasons.

First of all, the Knights captured their first state championship in girls volleyball when they rallied for a 21-25, 25-14, 25-22 win over Breese Central in the Class 2A state tournament.

Coach James Garcia's 2008-09 team claimed second place in Class 2A after dropping a three-game decision to Freeburg for what had been the program's previous-best finish.

The back-to-back championship match appearances was a first for Chicago Christian, which had only had one other sport advance to a state finals in an elimination tournament.

And that happened in 1981, when Chicago Christian captured the Class A championship in girls basketball.

Chicago Christian's last previous title in any sport was from 1992, when the Knights capped a three-year run as Class A girls track and field champions.

"Finishing second last year was a great accomplishment for the school," Garcia said. "But coming into the summer, the girls still had a little bit of a bad taste in their mouths left from last year.

"They didn't want this season to end that same way. So, they knew from the summer that they had to put the work in. The coaches let the girls know that we were willing to be flexible if they worked hard.

"I think we saw all of the effort that the girls put in with the way that this match was played. Even though we take some losses, that prepares us to come here and play the way that we do."

But there was more history made by the Knights on Saturday than that which simply had to do with Chicago Christian.

The Knights' comeback in the Class 2A championship match against Breese Central was noteworthy on a statewide-level as well.

Chicago Christian joined an exclusive group of schools who lost opening games in state title matches but then came back to win the title. From 1975 to 2009, only five teams had pulled off the accomplishment, with the last of those being St. Charles East in 2008 in Class 4A.

Quincy Notre Dame (1998) and Hartsburg-Emden (2006) previously pulled off the feat in Class A championship matches. Mother McAuley (1980) and Lyons Township (1989) won Class AA championships after dropping the opening game of the match. 

Unfortunately for Breese Central, it also won the opener in the 2006 finals before losing the next two games to Hartsburg-Emden.

Amazingly, the rare feat was accomplished in the first three matches of Saturday's finals at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena. Heyworth stunned Scales Mound in the Class 1A title match, while Breese Mater Dei shocked Joliet Catholic Academy in the Class 3A championship.

Also in a testament to its tough schedule, Chicago Christian became the state champion with the most defeats in a season, finishing with a 30-11 mark.

Two other schools that rallied from first-game losses, Lyons Township (1989 AA) and Quincy Notre Dame (1998 A) were 10-loss state champions.