‘Excited to be here’: Tremont volleyball relishes experience at state despite semifinal loss
- Jonathan Michel
- Nov 14, 2025
- 5 min read
NORMAL — Nora Parsons called it on October 29.
Following Tremont’s three-set win over Dee-Mack in the Class 1A regional semifinals, still early on in the postseason, Parsons expressed her bold dreams.
Tremont’s outside hitter is a sophomore and is only halfway through her varsity career, but she wanted to give the Turks’ seniors a couple more games.
“And up to state, hopefully,” she said on the court of Dee-Mack’s Virgil Jacobs Gymasium.
At that point, that dream looked improbable. Tremont ended the regular season with a 17-17 record, but the Turks came together, never stopped believing, pulled off a few upsets and had plenty of fun.
And they still had plenty of fun despite falling in the biggest game of their careers so far, a 25-19, 25-20 loss to Cissna Park, which was making its third state appearance in as many years and moved to 38-1 on the season.
Anchored by seniors Addison Lucht and Josie Neukomm, the Timberwolves’ big-game experience showed in key moments, but the Turks felt, and played, like they belonged on the big stage at CEFCU Arena.
“We fought for every single ball, every single point, we were just so excited to be here,” Tremont head coach Tiffany Klaus said. “We have worked so hard to get to this point. These girls have pulled together, they encourage each other, they celebrate each other, and it's been a really great postseason and we've loved every minute of it.”
Tremont will play Norris City-Omaha-Enfield in Saturday’s Class 1A third-place game at 9 a.m.
There were happy tears of proudness following the Turks’ loss. Those tears may take a different tone on Saturday, when the realization hits that one of the school’s most magical seasons has come to an end.
That will motivate Parsons and the rest of the team to send out their graduating group — Aubrey Hurckes, Anya Geltz, Jill Ulrich and Kaylee Johnson — out with a flourish.
“The tears are definitely happy tears,” Johnson said. “Anytime they do come, it’s because I'm just so proud of these girls and what we accomplished so far. So no tears, but I'm still extremely proud of how we played today.”
“We want to play a good game one more time with this team, because we have some seniors that won’t be with us next year,” Parsons said. “I just want to have a fun game and even if we lose, we're still going to have fun, because we always do that.”
Slightest of edges
Tremont grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first set with a Parsons kill and two Timberwolves errors. But Cissna Park’s difference-makers were quick to create a response and an impact on the match.
Kills from Josie Neukomm, an IVCA Class 1A First Team All-State selection, and Lucht, an all-state athlete in volleyball, basketball, softball and track in each sport for the last two seasons, turned a 5-5 tie into a two-point Cissna Park advantage.
The teams see-sawed back and forth with Tremont never regaining the lead in the set. Two of Lucht’s 14 kills on the day and a Tremont attack error pushed the Timberwolves ahead 19-14 but Tremont responded with a block from Parsons, a kill from sophomore outside hitter Emma Reynolds and a Cissna Park error to make it 19-17.
“All season and in this postseason, our motto is we focus on every single ball on our side of the court and they did that today, even in the big arena,” Klaus said.
The Timberwolves, however, closed out the set on a 6-2 run that included two aces from Lucht and two kills from Neukomm.
“They were a fantastic team, they had great players in every rotation,” Klaus said. “Their hitters were smart, they had big swings. We're good blockers in general and they got around us some.”
“We’re resilient, I think that word describes us really well,” Lucht said. “We’ve been battle-tested this whole season. We’ve played a really tough schedule to prepare for these moments.”
Many of Tremont’s points early in the second set came off of errors from their opponents. But after several points, Klaus’ group grabbed the bull by the horns as two kills from Reynolds, block from Johnson and Parsons, and an ace from Johnson minimized the Turks’ deficit to 11-10.
Late runs and whole town showing up
Coming out of a timeout, Tremont’s hottest stretch of the day started with a block and kill from Parsons and later saw the sophomore serve up three consecutive aces to give her team a 16-14 lead.
The run electrified a wall of maroon-clad fans in Normal, which featured many students and teachers after the entire school district canceled school for the day.
“Being such a small town, just seeing how much support we have and even though we've gone through ups and downs through our season, seeing the support that came today definitely spiked our energy and made us play really good,” Hurckes said.
It definitely means a lot to not only me, but everyone around me, whether it's a teammate, a coach or someone from our community,” she added. “It's just something that everyone is trying to work hard for, and we definitely put in our time.”
The Timberwolves, however, avoided what would have been their third straight semifinal defeat with a 9-2 run to close the game. They’ll take on Stockton in Saturday’s Class 1A state title game.
“We’ve been blessed to be here three years in a row,” Duncan said. “The girls had a great attitude and a great mental approach and it was kind of one of those where we play our game and responded in times of need.”
Parsons led the Turks with five kills, five blocks and three aces, Hayden Alwerdt added four kills and three digs, Carly Whitcomb had a team-high 10 digs and Johnson had 11 assists, two kills and two aces.
While the clock may have hit midnight on Tremont’s Cinderella run, it’s just the beginning of what they hope can be a new era; one that sees the Turks move up to the next level of success for a perennial winning program.
“We've had a lot of good teams in the past five to eight years and even before that as well,” Klaus said. “And what they started, we've carried through the way our program runs.”
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