Cougars roll as favorites: Defending champ Eastland fine with target on back

LANARK – Defending a championship isn’t easy. The Eastland Cougars are just making it look that way.

The Cougars (38-2) have won 24 straight matches and raced through their last two matches by a combined 100-42 score. Class 1A’s 2008 champs will go for back-to-back titles at the state tournament, Friday and Saturday at Redbird Arena in Normal.

“Everybody’s going to say we’re the favorite,” Eastland coach Kristy Pierce said Tuesday, “just because we won it last year. That goes without saying. But nothing’s going to be easy.”

The other three teams that form the Final Four have designs on a state title, and there’s not an unworthy contender in the bunch. Mount Pulaski preceded Eastland as 1A champs.

Cumberland and Seymour, like the Cougars, have lost two matches apiece.

Still, the other three teams hold Eastland in high regard.

“We know they’re bringing back their big guns,” Cumberland coach Monica McNeil said. “They’re very similar to last year, and they were outstanding. Their setter is outstanding, their hitters are outstanding, and they’re definitely deserving champions.”

McNeil’s team will meet Eastland in Friday’s 10:30 a.m. semifinal. The teams met in the same round last year, when the Cougars won 25-20, 25-16 behind eight kills from Courtney Blair and seven from Megan Bunyer – two of Eastland’s eight returning contributors.

“We came out with the jitters last year and we never got past that,” said McNeil, an assistant last year who assumed head coaching duties when Drew Robertson left for Tri-County. “Hopefully we’ve got that out of the way.”

Cumberland (29-2) returns four starters from last year’s squad, including star hitter Macy Shupe, who had three kills and eight attack errors in last year’s loss to the Cougars.

“We’re going to have our hands full in the semifinals for sure,” Pierce said. “Cumberland looks a little more athletic than last year, like they grew up a bit.”

There aren’t many small-school programs Eastland can look up to anymore, but Mount Pulaski is one. The Toppers have won two state championships under Donna Dulle, who is 888-217 in 29 years.

This year’s Toppers (29-11) have three freshmen in their rotation. They met Eastland on Sept. 19 in the semifinals of the Mount Pulaski Fall Festival, where the Cougars won 18-25, 25-21, 25-12.