C-G’s work is done

Cary-Grove students reach out to touch the IHSA Class 4A girls volleyball state championship trophy as members of the team (background) look on Sunday at a pep rally at the high school. The Trojans’ victory in the title match Saturday gave the school its first team state title. (Nick Dentamaro – ndentamaro@nwherald.com)

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CARY – It had all seemed like a fairy tale until the bus pulled into Fox River Grove and the police, ambulance and fire truck procession greeted Cary-Grove’s girls volleyball team to give the Trojans an escort back to the high school.

At that moment, the realization that the Trojans had won an IHSA Class 4A girls volleyball state title Saturday overcame the players, who pulled into C-G’s parking lot Sunday afternoon to a throng of cheering fans rattling homemade noise makers and holding up congratulatory signs.

Players wiped tears from their eyes, the enormity of the accomplishment surrounding them, as parents, teachers, community members and friends allowed them to bask in their new celebrity status.

C-G won the school’s first team state title with a victory against Lyons, 25-23, 25-17, on Saturday night at Redbird Arena in Normal, capping a season in which the Trojans went 38-4 overall and won the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title along with regional, sectional and supersectional crowns before making their first trip to the state finals.

Inside the gym after a rousing rendition of the school’s fight song, coach Patty Langanis introduced her players one by one, and, gold medals still around their necks, each stood up and had a moment in the spotlight.

“Last spring, I started to sense that for these seniors, this was something they wanted very badly,” Langanis said. “They knew what they needed to do and ... they pushed one another to do it.”

“You always dream of having a team that wants to be in the weight room, wants to [put in the time], and this one really did,” she said.

Langanis disclosed the meaning behind the T-shirts her players had created at the start of their season, which read “Power of One,” on the front, with the word “one” inside of a circle on the back.

No one had commented all season on the T-shirt’s significance, so it was fitting for Langanis to explain once the goal expressed in the T-shirts had been accomplished.

“We wanted to be first in the state,” Langanis said. “That was our secret that we kept to ourselves, but it was to remind us that our dream was big. It was bigger than all of us, but all 16 girls on this roster wanted it more than anything.”

Fox River Grove Village president Robert Nunamaker congratulated the Trojans, saying that he had heard the Trojans had smacked down “kills that looked like meteors,” leaving “dents in the floors” at Redbird.

He handed Langanis two volleyballs for players to sign – one for the village office and the other for the trophy case at C-G.

Nunamaker was followed by Cary Mayor Tom Kierna, who declared the week of Nov. 14-20 to be Cary-Grove High School Trojan Volleyball Week, which will be observed each year.

Kierna then gave the Trojans Cary’s most prestigious recognition – a key to the village, with the individual copies of the proclamation passed out to each player.

“Congratulations,” Kierna said. “You guys are awesome.”

“It’s the best feeling ever,” junior libero Sam Mainzer said. “When we were looking out the window coming up to the school, everyone had tears in their eyes. It’s incredible the way our community has supported us. I never would have imagined having this feeling.”