The Roundup, Oct. 17, 2026: Limestone thrives at home volleyball tournament, regional soccer and section tennis action continue

With the fall season of high school sports winding down, the action in Central Illinois is only getting hotter.

The Limestone Fall Classic featured a second-place finish from the Rockets volleyball team and Normal Community and Dunlap faced competition from the Chicago area in their tournaments.

Normal Calvary and Limestone were victorious in their boys soccer regional quarterfinal games and the Big 12 and Heart of Illinois Conference hosted their conference meets this Saturday.

Girls tennis finished their sectional tournaments with a number of local players securing podium finishes and spots at the state tournament.

Check out all the scores, recaps and top performers from Saturday night in The Roundup!

In volleyball

At Bartonville: The Limestone Fall Classic saw the hosts finish second to New Lenox Providence Catholic, losing the championship game 25-22, 21-25, 15-8. The Rockets won their first two matches of the day against LaSalle-Peru in three and Chatham Glenwood in two. Mia Lamberti, Bryn Williamson and Brylee Sprout earned All-Tournament honors for their performances, with Lamberti totaling 62 kills, 49 assists and 11 aces, Williamson adding on 42 kills and 57 assists and Sprout leading the team in blocks with 13 blocks. IVC finished fifth after sweeping Richwoods and Geneseo but losing to Chatham Glenwood in three sets. Kayt Miller was also named to the All-Tournament team alongside Richwoods’s Zoe Louderman. Before their match against the Grey Ghosts, the Knights suffered a loss to Galesburg, finishing eighth overall.

At Glen Ellyn: Normal Community competed in the Silver Bracket of the Glenbard East Autumnfest Invite, placing 13th at the tournament. The Ironmen started the day with a loss to St. Charles East 2-1 before winning their next two matches in two sets, defeating Wheaton Warrenville South and then Crystal Lake South in the 13th-place game.

At Woodstock: Dunlap traveled three hours north for the Woodstock North Tournament, winning two out of three matches on the day. The Eagles beat Maple Park Kaneland and Lincolnshire Stevenson, both in three sets, but in their last match, they fell to Sycamore 2-1.

Tremont 2, Delavan 0: Tremont (25-6, 8-3 Heart of Illinois) played what will be their last outing of the regular season before the HOIC Tournament, defeating Delavan (10-19, 2-4 Inter-County) 25-10, 25-16. Nora Parsons led the team with eight kills, two blocks and two aces, alongside Allie Halverson’s eight assists and two aces and Elle Williams’s six digs.

In boys soccer

Limestone 3, East Peoria 1: In the first round of Class 2A action, Limestone (1-14-2, 0-6-1) secured their first win of the season against Mid-Illini foes East Peoria (0-21-2, 0-6-1) and move on to face Washington in the Class 2A Metamora Regional semifinals. Presley Piscaglia scored a brace for the Rockets and Grady Wisher also put one in the back of the net.

Just the scores

Normal Calvary 2, Olympia 1 (Class 1A)

• Knights: 8-8 | Will play Roanoke-Benson/Eureka in Class 1A Peoria Christian Regional semifinals on Tuesday

• Spartans: 2-19-1

In boys cross country

At Downs: Tri-Valley hosted the Heart of Illinois Conference Meet, finishing in third as a team behind first-place Eureka and second-place El Paso-Gridley. Six Hornets finished in the top 10, including Adam Perry, who won the race with a time of 14:57. Davin Dingeldine (15:36), Tate (15:45) and Hudson Leman (15:45) and Landon Wurmnest (15:48) took third through sixth and Daniel Bender (15:58) finished in eighth. El Paso-Gridley’s Weston Hodel (15:25) completed the course in second and Dee-Mack’s Samuel Awbrey (15:58) and Noah Burrell (16:15) took ninth and 10th. Tri-Valley were led by Evan Brown’s 13th-place time of 16:38, Heyworth’s Colton Stiehl placed 17th at 16:58 and Tremont’s Everett Henderson’s 17:07 time put him in 18th. Fieldcrest’s Gavin Dikeman led the Knights in 30th with his time of 18:06.

At Peoria: Peoria Notre Dame won the Big 12 Conference Meet on the strength of four top 10 runners while Normal West placed second, Normal Community took fifth, Bloomington placed sixth and Richwoods slotted in seventh. PND featured conference champion Maxwell Kirby (14:47.0), John Baker (15:03.0) in third, Luke Fady (15:33.3) in sixth and Frederic Couri (15:40.5) in eighth. Normal West was led by Donovan Wright (15:10.6) in fourth, plus Beckett Kreinbihl (15:44.0) and Garrison Kaufmann (15:47.3), who took ninth and 10th, respectively. Bloomington’s Eli Hartman was the other area runner in the top 10, placing second in 14:50.4. Normal Community’s Evan Kuhlman took 11th in 15:49.1 and Richwoods was paced by Daniel Havenga (16:13.0) in 17th. Peoria High and Manual did not have participating runners.

At Peoria Heights: Delavan’s Coriell Green led all area runners at the 48th annual Peoria Heights Invite, finishing second with a time of 14:54.6. Elmwood’s Cole Cahill (15:14.1) took ninth place and IVC’s Jackson Rupiper (15:21.6) rounded out the top 10. Danny Sharp (15:21.7) also contributed to Elmwood’s team title push, finishing in 11th. Delavan’s Jace Toland (15:45.3) and IVC’s Cullan Fahrenkrug (15:47.9) took 19th and 20th, respectively, while Ty Gale (15:48.2) led Olympia in 21st place. Delavan’s Evan Lemme (15:48.3) crossed the finish line in 22nd, IVC’s Brody Miller (16:01.0) placed 27th and the Elmwood trio of Cooper Brown (15:56.0), Silas Schmieg (15:57.1) and Oliver Funk (16:02.2) took 25th, 26th and 30th. Princeville’s top runners Jacob Bosch (16:03.9) and Hunter Keyster (16:04.5) finished 31st and 32nd while Illini Bluffs’s Will Emhoff (16:37.7) tied for 55th.

In girls cross country

At Downs: Eureka also had five finishers in the top 10 on the girls side of the HOIC meet. The Hornets were led by the duo of Ava Otto and Sierra Herrmann, who finished in the top two spots at 18:08 and 18:15, respectively. Eighth, ninth and tenth place were occupied by Kinsey Stoller (18:49), Bre Lehman (19:15) and Sophia Watson (19:17). EPG’s Haven Miller (18:34) and Kiley Knapp (18:49) took third and seventh while Tremont’s Jessica Henderson (18:37) and Averi Kennett (18:40) took fourth and fifth. Sophia Gronowski (19:33) paced Tri-Valley with her 11th-place finish, Grace Hartwig (21:13) led Heyworth in 24th, Dee-Mack’s Madisyn Droege (21:58) took 26th and Khloe Nussbaum represented Fieldcrest with a 32nd-place time of 22:42. 

At Peoria: Peoria Notre Dame won the Big 12 Conference Meet with 37 points, beating out Bloomington (58) and Normal Community (97) who also finished on the podium. Normal West took fifth and Richwoods slotted in eighth. PND had four runners in the top 10 and six of the top 12, led by Lillian Chaddock (18:16.8) in second, plus Brigid Gould, Sloan Cranford and Charlotte Gould, who all finished between 19:04 and 19:14. Bloomington was led by conference champion Lorelei Hulsing (17:44.7) and sixth-place finisher Josie Skeate (19:01.0). Erin Scheirer paced Normal Community in 13th (19:35.2) and Normal West had fourth-place finisher Judy Moran-Williams (18:42.4). Annie Witte was Richwoods’ fastest runner, placing 19th in 20:13.6. Peoria High was led by Amari Williams, who took 54th in 24:35.7.

At Peoria Heights: Elmwood finished second place as a team at the Peoria Heights Invite, led by Mya Hill’s 12th-place time of 18:17.8. Delavan’s Elyse Brinkmeyer ended the race as the only top-10 runner from the area, with her time of 18:03.4 clinching seventh place. Illini Bluffs’s Audrey Dickinson (18:20.1) and Olympia’s Mira Kistner (18:26.5) finished 13th and 15th along with Princeville’s Bethany Sennett (18:31.3) in 16th. Elmwood’s Bristol (18:42.3) and Berlyn Schmidgall (19:16.6) took 21st and 33rd and Riley Kelly (19:28.6) finished right behind them in 36th. 

In girls tennis

At Geneseo: Peoria Notre Dame’s Madelyn Couri won the Class 1A Geneseo Sectional singles title, defeating Rock Island Alleman’s Kate Walsh 6-1, 6-0 and helping the Irish finish third as a team with 16 points. Brimfield’s Bianca Cisel, after upsetting the fourth seed earlier in the bracket, won the third-place match against Galesburg’s Anastasia Pitsoulakis 6-1, 6-1. The host Maple Leafs won the team title with 23 points, three more than second-place Rock Island Alleman. In the doubles bracket, Peoria Christian’s Kennedi Dewett/Izzie George finished in fourth place after a loss in the third-place game to Geneseo’s Kendyl Wassenhove/Stella Smith. The Chargers finished eighth in the sectional, just a point behind the Indians.

At Metamora: Morton’s Chloe Kendall and Metamora’s Alexis Mogul met in the championship match of the Class 1A Metamora Sectional singles bracket, helping their teams finish first and third in team scores, respectively. Kendall ended up winning the match 6-1, 6-0, securing the final points for the Potters, who finished with 28, two points over second-place Normal U-High. The third-place match between Bloomington Central Catholic’s Reagan Power and Limestone’s Joyce Newman ended as a win for the Saints, 6-3, 6-2, placing them in fourth as a team. The Pioneers dominated the doubles bracket as both of their teams made it to the championship game, with Gabi Pecoraro/Addie Cortese defeating Hallie Shoenberger/Adelyn Kim. Metamora’s Olivia Weldon/Alison Liesen won the third-place game over Morton’s Lauryn Elsesser/Kaylee Rassi 7-5, 6-4, to add to the Redbirds’ 25 points.

At Dunlap: The Class 2A Dunlap Sectional singles podium was swept by area talent, including Dunlap’s Anna Yu and Isabella Gusso, who faced each other in the championship match with Yu coming out on top 6-1, 6-3. The Eagles also kept the team title in their own backyard with 28 points, three ahead of Normal Community’s second-place run. The Ironmen took the third place singles spot as Angela Caceres defeated Moline’s Calla Graham 6-3, 6-3. Meanwhile, the doubles final was contested against teams from Champaign Central and Moline, but the third-place matchup between Normal Community’s Vienna Quach/Taylor Curtis and Dunlap’s Katherine Brewer/Sia Verma ended as a victory for the Ironmen, 6-3, 6-2.

In girls swimming and diving

At Galesburg: Washington and Dunlap competed at the Galesburg Invitational, finishing in first and third, respectively, with 321 and 224 points. Other results include Galesburg in second (279), Rock Island in fourth (168), Moline in fifth (154) and East Moline United in sixth (86).

At Urbana: Bloomington finished the Urbana Tri-Meet in third against Mahomet-Seymour, Urbana and Danville, scoring 49 points through 12 events. Eight points were obtained by the Purple Raiders’ 200-yard medley relay team finishing in fourth as well as another eight from the 200-yard freestyle relay team also taking fourth. Hailey Kardas finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:11.96 and third in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:04.05. Ansahna Tchapda (2:14.74) took third in the 100-yard breaststroke and Issaria Jacobs (1:08.34) took fourth in the 100-yard freestyle. To round things out, Sky Cox (1:55.87) placed fifth in the 100-yard backstroke and Tchapda (40.14) placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle.