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Illinois volleyball state champion prepares for college career despite pandemic
Lexie Huck represents Calvin University, where she’ll play volleyball for the Knights, outside of her home in Decatur, Ill. (Courtesy: Lexie Huck)

Illinois volleyball state champion prepares for college career despite pandemic

DECATUR, Ill. (BVM) — Before the coronavirus pandemic upended all normalcy for athletics, Lexie Huck had achieved her sports dream in the fall of 2019: winning an Illinois state volleyball championship. With it being her senior year, Huck knew this was the last chance for her St. Teresa High School team to win it all — something that no other high school in her county had ever achieved, regardless of division.

The year before, the Bulldogs had won third place at state in the IHSA 1A; the division for the schools with the smallest student population in the state. As a private school, St. Teresa was bumped up to 2A for the 2019 season due to a “success factor” that is applied to private high schools in Illinois when they make it far enough in the playoffs. This meant that St. Teresa, with a student body of just 226 students, would now be facing high schools that had up to 697 students.

“I was pretty nervous about being moved up because I knew we’d have to play some legacy schools like Breese Mater Dei and Quincy Notre Dame,” Huck said. “They have a reputation for volleyball success and I knew they’d be on our road to state.”

Despite facing high schools that had three times as many students to choose from for their teams, the Bulldogs were able to build on their success from the previous year and secure the state championship Huck had been dreaming about since she was a child.

“I’d seen my older sister go to state when she went to St. Teresa seven years earlier and I’d seen the hype around that, so I always had the dream to make it to state,” Huck said. “I was too scared to let myself believe that we’d actually win though.”

However, when St. Teresa made it to state her junior year and placed third, Huck began to think more realistically about the potential of winning a state championship.

Huck (far right) and senior Abbie Robinson celebrate after their final winning point at state. (Courtesy: Lexie Huck)

“I knew we had a lot of great returning players who were a year older and had developed their skills in the offseason, so we were going to be stronger and more powerful,” Huck said. “I knew this would give us a shot at the state title.”

After state, Lexie was awarded Macon County Player of the Year for the crucial role she played on the state championship team.

As the dust began to settle and the disbelief began to wear off, Huck started to focus on her next challenge ‑- getting ready for a college volleyball career. Her success during the 2018 season garnered her the attention of Calvin University, a Division III school in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a long standing history for volleyball success and three volleyball national championships.

To prepare for Calvin, Huck started going to club volleyball practices the week after the state championship in November. The club season would normally last until June but was unfortunately cut short by the pandemic.

“Our last tournament was the first weekend in March, and we stopped having practices a week later,” Huck said. “At the time, we thought we’d eventually return. However, we later found out that all of our season would be canceled.”

Despite the cancellation of her club season, Huck knew that she would need to stay in shape for the upcoming collegiate season. As part of their training program, the Calvin Knights require their players to pass multiple fitness tests.

“We have five physical cardio tests which involve sprints, stairs and distance running,” Huck said. “I’ve been going to the gym almost every day and trying to replicate these challenges to the best of my abilities.”

On top of training for the conditioning portion of the program, Huck has also been looking for alternative ways to play volleyball throughout the summer to stay in “volleyball shape.” With gym restrictions in Illinois, there has been a limited number of people who can get together at one time, so all indoor volleyball leagues have been postponed or canceled. Due to this, Huck has turned to sand volleyball.

“Changing from indoor volleyball to sand was a challenging transition since the rules and style of play vary,” Huck said. “However, it has been a good way for me to continue to touch the ball and workout throughout the course of the summer.”

At this point, Huck is facing a lot of trepidation about what the future holds for volleyball at Calvin and her college experience in general. In early August, her fall season was also canceled, although some practices will still take place starting in late September. The MIAA has announced that they are going to try and play conference games in the spring, but it’s unclear if playoffs will occur for the chance to win a national championship.

“Even though my fall season was canceled, I’m still looking forward to practicing with the team and getting to attend classes in-person,” Huck said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll get to play for a national championship in the spring.”