MAHOMET — The Mahomet-Seymour volleyball team has reached a point where they are making history with every match.

With their 25-12, 25-20 victory over Taylorville in Tuesday’s Class 3A MS sectional semifinal, the 2024 Bulldogs clinched their first sectional championship. Additionally, he increased his record for wins in a single season to 35.

“They’ve been playing so well the last few weeks that they’ve gotten into a really nice rhythm,” MS coach Stan Bergman said. “They really trust each other a lot and seem like they’re just having a lot of fun.”

The Bulldogs (35-3) have been working toward this opportunity for a long time, especially since Bergman took over the program in 2019. They have won at least 30 games in each of the last six seasons except 2020, affected by COVID. campaign in which they finished 14-2, but this is their first opportunity to earn two postseason plaques in the same year.

It will be a familiar foe in Thursday’s final against Normal U-High. The Pioneers (35-3) have sent the Bulldogs home in each of the last four postseasons. In 2019, U-High topped MS in the sectional semifinals and has beaten the Bulldogs in the regional championship the last three years.

“They have their sights set a little higher,” Bergman said of his players. “We have met all our objectives. Having to face U-High for so many years in a row, I thought, ‘Ugh, let’s get a regional.’ It was a bear. They are a super solid and fundamentally solid team. “It will be a lot of fun on Thursday.”

One of the main reasons MS is on this stage has been the outstanding performance of junior attacker Ava Yeakel. She tallied nine kills, including the game-winning goal, and seven kills in Tuesday’s victory, just days after tallying a team-high 11 kills in last week’s regional final.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Yeakel said. “Last season wasn’t really my season, so being able to go into year three and grow as a player and learn to be confident has set me apart from everyone else.”

Yeakel had the tough task of replacing two-time News-Gazette Player of the Year and current Boise State beach volleyball player Avery Allen. The original plan was to have her flourish in the shadow of senior Ellie Barker, Butler, who led the way Tuesday with 12 kills, and Michigan State junior Lily Bosworth, who had six kills and three blocks, but the secret has already been revealed. come to light. Yeakel has played so well down the stretch that Bergman can’t afford to take her off the court.

“She’s a stud,” Bergman said. “She’s an athlete, she’s a competitor and she finds open spaces. He has that competitive advantage that makes him hate losing. “He will do everything he can to improve what he is doing and the best part is he really tries to do it for his teammates.”

The icing on the cake for Yeakel was that he turned 17 on Tuesday.

Joining the list of standouts for the Bulldogs on Tuesday were Addi Eisenmann with seven kills, Erin Dallas with 14 assists and Ellie Dallas with 10 assists and three aces.

The semifinal win was MS’s third win over Taylorville (30-8) this season. The Bulldogs beat their Apollo Conference foe 2-1 on September 17 and again 2-0 on October 10. The Tornadoes provided a solid test all season, but the biggest one yet will come Thursday. MS got rid of the regional monkey last week. Now, the Bulldogs are ready to give U-High all it can handle and hopefully continue making history in the process.

“With every win, our energy just keeps increasing and getting better and better,” Yeakel said. “Anything from here on out is a blessing. We just have to work as hard as we can to go as far as we can.”