Published: October 28, 2009 11:35 pm         

Illinois volleyball teams start postseason today

Teams from the area begin play in Illinois high school volleyball regionals today.

Class A teams will compete at Chrisman and Cumberland. Class 2A teams will play at Effingham St. Anthony.

Three matches are on tonight’s schedule at all sites with the first beginning at 5:30 p.m. CDT.

Cumberland will be favored to win its regional. The Pirates are 24-2 and finished third in the state a year ago.

The other two teams with winning records in the Cumberland Regional are Martinsville (15-13) and Palestine-Hutsonville (11-9). The Pioneers played Cowden-Herrick on Wednesday and the winner faced Cumberland.

Newton is the Apollo Conference champ and takes a 22-9 record into the Effingham St. Anthony action.

The host Bulldogs meet Casey in the first round tonight. They are 24-9 and Casey is 18-12, winning six of its last eight matches.

Effingham St. Anthony is coached by former Casey coach Marianne Larimer, who was the coach of the 1999 team that took fourth in the state.

One of her players was Erin Leichty, the coach of the Warriors.

Kansas-Tri-County is the No. 1 seed at Chrisman and began play Wednesday night. The host Chrisman team is the No. 2 seed.

Championship matches will be played Saturday afternoon.



Tonight’s schedule

Class A

Cumberland Regional

5:30 p.m. — Neoga vs. Stewardson-Strasburg

6:30 — Martinsville vs. Beecher City

7:30 — N-SS winners vs. M-BC winner

Chrisman Regional

5:30 — Chrisman vs. Arcola

6:30 — Arthur vs. Atwood-Hammond

7:30 — C-A winner vs. A-A-H winner

Class 2A

Effinngham St. Anthony Regional

5:30 — Marshall vs. Robinson

6:30 — Effingham St. Anthony vs. Casey

7:30 — M-R winner vs. ESA-C winner