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Prep Volleyball: Harrisburg falls to Murphysboro in Regional championship match

The Harrisburg Bulldogs (21-16) and the Murphysboro Red Devils are not strangers when it comes to girls volleyball. The two teams have seen each other four times this season and each time, Murphy came out on top.

At the IHSA Benton Regional, the Bulldogs and Red Devils met once again at the championship match Thursday night. Once again, Murphy came out victorious in two sets (25-20, 25-18), but it was not for lack of trying on the part of the Bulldogs.

"I was most proud of their heart," said Heather Cox, Harrisburg coach. "Since the program has been down for a number of years before this team came along, whenever things started turning down, they shut down and quit… this whole season we knew that's not what we needed to do, and I thought they fought hard. Unfortunately tonight we weren't the better team, but sometimes that's how it plays out."

In the first set, Murphy took an early lead, but with solid blocking and several kills from hitters Matty Hawkins and Bryleigh Buchanan, the Bulldogs were able to tie up the game at 7 points each. Unfortunately, the Red Devils took the lead back and created another point gap.

Blocking was key for the Bulldogs in the first set and they earned several points through blocks alone. They tied the game up several more times until the Red Devils ended the set when the Bulldogs hit the ball out of bounds.

"Blocking was what we worked on a lot yesterday to shut down their offense," Cox said. "Any smart offense is going to pick apart a defense, that's definitely something we struggled with."

In the second set, the Bulldogs came out strong and opened the scoring with a 3-point run thanks to kills from Buchanan and Toni Crisp. Unfortunately, the Red Devils rallied back with their power hitters to neutralize the Bulldogs' lead.

The Red Devils took the lead in the second set and try as they might, the Bulldogs could not catch up. After several rallies, the Murphy team closed the match and earned title of 2016 Regional Champions.

Cox said that they knew this game would be tough for the Bulldogs, but the mentality of the game gave the Harrisburg team even more pressure to play through.

"We played Murphy four times this year and they beat us three times and I think that when the kids come in here that plays on their minds a bit," Cox said. "They know that Murphy is a good team. I wonder if they wonder 'can we beat them?'"

Now that their season is over, Cox said she is going to encourage her players to join a club team in order to get more experience in the off-season.

"I think we need to get a couple kids stronger," Cox said. "One of the things that helps the teams around here is club ball because there's more contact and they get more experience… it would definitely be more beneficial for sure."