NORMAL — Big matches have become pretty regular for Mia Lamberti.
The Limestone sophomore’s volleyball resume boasts guiding Christ Lutheran to back-to-back Lutheran Sports Association of Illinois state titles in 2021 and 2022. She earned consecutive tournament MVPs for those junior-high performances.
Now, Lamberti can add a Class 3A state runner-up to her bio.
Lamberti was instrumental in leading Limestone to the program’s highest-ever finish on Saturday, falling to Mahomet-Seymour, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18 in a thrilling Class 3A state championship match. In the process, the Rockets (32-10) became the first Mid-Illini Conference volleyball team to play for a state title.
Pain to pride:Limestone coach’s long, winding road to IHSA volleyball title match
“We wanted to finish it in two (sets),” the 6-foot setter/outside hitter said. “It just didn’t go our way, but I’m so proud of us.”
And if those accomplishments aren’t special enough, Lamberti has shared all those wins with her mom and Limestone assistant, Jen Lamberti.
“It’s incredible,” Jen said, noting she’s coached her daughter since she was able to pick up a ball. “I’m just proud of her because obviously as a coach, I’m tougher on her than anyone else.”
Limestone’s family of volleyball players
The former Jen Mooney, who is also the Christ Lutheran coach, says Mia playing club volleyball against 18U competition helped her game grow considerably from her freshman year to now.
“She just became a smarter hitter,” Jen said. “I know that’s not her future, hitting — it’s more setting. … Last year, she used to get … frustrated and she’s not (this season). She’s able to kind of like wash that point off, just maturing as a player.”
Also, Mia is dedicating time outside of games and practice to improve. She was in the gym at 6:30 a.m. Thursday with teammate Khloe Stear working on fundamentals ahead of the state finals.
That’s just a small example of the work ethic Mia has developed.
“She has really high (aspirations) of playing a high-level, Division I,” Jen said. “… My thing with her is always, ‘You say you want to play D1. … Show you can play Division-I. … Any time she gets out of the car, ‘Go show that you’re the best player on the floor. Go be the best player on the floor.’
“Maybe not the whole match, but for a few points. I think she just kind of has that drive to constantly get better. Handle pressure. I put a lot of it on her, but she’s just grown up a lot in a year’s time.”
Make no mistake, there’s still a lot of teenager in Mia when it comes to dealing with her mom.
“She definitely knows me as a person, obviously,” Mia said, “and as a player, she knows I’m a very stubborn human, so she knows when I’m stubborn and she definitely knows the right words to say to get me going.”
Added Limestone coach Shelly Stoner, “Mia’s very coachable. … Sometimes, you know, it’s just better sometimes with the little emotional part that mom’s right there.”
How the championship match unfolded
Limestone separated itself in the opening set when a 4-1 spurt put the Rockets ahead for good at 13-10 following kills by Lamberti, Bryn Williamson and Ella Karmenzind. From there, Limestone took advantage of three Mahomet errors mixed with an ace from Karmenzind and Hannah West’s kill.
The Bulldogs (39-3) were able to pull the set within 18-17, but a trio of M-S miscues and a Williamson kill over the next 12 points sealed the victory.
“We just knew what they had and their strengths, so we really tried to play against them,” said M-S coach Stan Bergman, whose team had beaten Limestone in two prior meetings. “I almost (thought) we were trying to play too hard against their strengths, and we weren’t getting in a really good groove.”
In the second set, Limestone put together a key stretch scoring six in a row and 11 of the next 12 points to go from being down 7-5 to up 16-8. The Rockets extended their lead to 19-11 and seemed to be in full control of the match.
But M-S had other ideas, scoring 14 of the set’s next 17 points to steal the victory, capitalizing on three Limestone attack errors.
“We lost a little bit of our ball control,” Stoner said of Mahomet’s comeback, “and we were a little bit all over the court, and so we couldn’t get (players) on the net and made some uncharacteristic errors as far as the postseason run.”
Riding the momentum of middle set win, Mahomet-Seymour took an early advantage only to see Limestone fight back. However, Lamberti’s kill provided the Rockets with their lone lead of the set at 7-6.
Lily Bosworth, a 6-foot-4 junior middle hitter, then took over for the Bulldogs. She slammed down four of her seven kills in the set to put Mahomet up 17-10 and it never looked back. Bosworth finished with 10 kills and 2.5 blocks.
Ellie Barker’s 15 kills were a team-high for Mahomet, which got 13 from Ava Yeakel and a double-double by Ellie Dallas (19 assists, 13 digs).
“I didn’t play the best in the first set,” Bosworth, a Michigan State commit said, “and I’m going to say that because I set myself to a high standard.”
Karmenzind, though, was pretty effective in attacking Bosworth to finish with six kills.
“I definitely had to find ways to hit around her,” Karmenzind said. “She’s a big girl, but I was able to find spots and hit around her a little bit.”
Lamberti just missed out on a triple-double with 16 kills, 14 assists and eight digs. Williamson chipped in a double-double of her own with 11 kills and 12 assists. Limestone all-state libero Stear added 13 digs.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
