The Columbia High School volleyball team made history Saturday afternoon in Normal, capturing the school’s first state title in the sport. 

The Eagles (39-1) dropped the first set against Bloomington Central Catholic in the IHSA Class 2A state championship match, 25-19, then rallied to win the next two sets, 25-20 and 25-17, for victory. 

Bloomington opened the match with a 7-0 lead in the first set, as the Eagles committed errors on four of those points. Columbia battled back to make it interesting for a bit before dropping the set.

Columbia flew out to a 7-1 lead to start the second set, and then, after Bloomington tied it at 15-15, the Eagles rallied to close it out with a spike from Maura Kohlenberger, forcing the deciding third set.

Bloomington went up early 6-1 in the final set, but Columbia went on a 9-1 run to regain momentum. Bloomington got within two points, but the Eagles proved too much in the end.

Columbia head coached Kelly Landgraf dismissed the idea that her team was nervous at the start of the state final during a post-match press conference.

“It just think it took us a minute to get settled in,” she said, adding that the pace of the match was faster than initially thought. “We made some great adjustments.”

Landgraf pointed to blocking as a key to Saturday’s win. Her team recorded 14 blocks in the match.

“I think I just got more hungry to block, really,” senior Ava Mathews said afterward.

Landgraf pointed to six blocks by freshman Addison Dewilde as “huge” in the comeback win. 

“We never lost hope after an error or a lost point,” Columbia senior Kinley Jany told reporters after the match. 

Mathews, a senior, was named to the IHSA Class 2A state all-tournament team. Her teammate, junior Claire Sandstrom, was named state finals MVP after recording 14 kills. 

The volleyball state title comes just one week after the CHS boys soccer team came home with the top trophy and is the fourth state title in 2025 for CHS athletics – including cheerleading and girls soccer.

The state champs were welcomed home Sunday with a parade on Main Street, followed by a ceremony inside the gym.

“What a weekend. What a season,” Columbia Athletic Director Scott Horner told attendees of Sunday’s welcome ceremony in the gym.

When asked to describe the 2025 state champion volleyball squad in one word, the AD came up with “grit.”

“Never say die. They get down and all it does is make them more mad,” he said. “People wanna talk? You know what? All that does is just fuel their fire. Some people fold under those types of circumstances. But this group, man. Wow!”

With his daughter Ella Horner being senior captain of the squad, Scott was especially thankful for CHS Principal Brian Reeves and CHS Assistant Principal Amanda Bedard, who took on more responsibilities than usual with planning and other typical AD tasks associated with a state tourney trip.

“They said, ‘You get to go and be a dad,’” Horner explained with a bit of emotion.

Landgraf’s speech during Sunday’s welcome celebration was also filled with emotion, as she thanked all those who supported her team all season – residents, businesses, and school district officials alike. 

“There’s nothing better than being from Columbia,” she said.

Landgraf became choked up when thanking the players’ parents directly for their unwavering dedication.

“I see why the girls are the way they are,” she said. “They have no idea how lucky they are. None of this happens without you guys.”

Landgraf also heaped high praise on her assistant coaches Colin Wehrenberg, Lynsey Wehrenberg and Tessa Amsden, who “kept things calm” this season and pointed out aspects of the game she was not particularly noticing at specific times.  

Landgraf told attendees Sunday that one of the most impactful matches of the season was actually the lone loss on Sept. 11 to Breese Central.

“If there’s anyone who hates losing more than anything in the world, it’s me. I can’t stand it,” Landgraf began. “But this one loss, to me, was the best loss I have ever had in my entire life. It helped me grow as a coach. It helped me teach them how to grow as athletes and young women. I honestly think that we came back better because of that loss. It made us more hungry. It made us want to win more. And I honestly think we are standing here today because we were able to reflect and learn instead of making excuses, feeling sorry for ourselves. We wanted to become better, and so I will take that loss.”

Landgraf described her players as determined, driven and having heart, showing up early and staying late, and trusting in the process. She said the mentality of practices was the same as the mentality of the games.

“You guys are fierce, and you stayed hungry through the whole entire season,” Landgraf told her players. “And you will do anything to win.” 

The Eagles downed Rockford Christian in the semifinals on Friday, 25-18, 25-8, setting the stage for Saturday’s final. 

“The game plan was perfect,” Landgraf said of Friday’s win during a post-match press conference. “It was a perfect puzzle piece put together today.”

Sandstrom had 11 kills, Jany recorded 12 points, and Mathews registered 11 assists.

The 2025 squad surpassed Columbia’s 2005 season-record victory total with Friday’s win. Landgraf’s 2005 squad also advanced to the state final but lost to Breese Central.

Entering the state final, the head coach said her team’s “mentality is they want to win,” adding that “we have 17 girls that challenge each other every day in practice.”

Mathews, who was named to the Class 2A all-state first team, was second in both kills and assists this season for the Eagles. 

Sandstrom, who was named second team all-state and the Cahokia Conference player of the year, led Columbia in kills. 

Jany led the team in both points and aces, and was second in digs.

Samantha Spruill was tops on the team in assists and second overall in points.

Kohlenberger led the team in blocks.

Ella Horner led the team in digs. 

In addition to those accolades, seven CHS volleyball players earned Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association Academic All-State honors: Mathews, Sandstrom, Jany, Spruill, Kohlenberger, Horner and Dewilde.

As an even further testament to the character and champion pedigree displayed by the 2025 CHS volleyball squad is the fact that more than a few of them are daughters of successful Eagles coaches or professional athletes.

Ella Horner’s father is Columbia’s Hall of Fame football coach, with Sandstrom’s father Mark being Columbia’s Hall of Fame basketball coach.     

Jany’s father Keith was a successful head baseball coach for the Eagles. 

Ava and Marly Mathews are the daughters of former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher TJ Mathews, who was a key member of Columbia’s first state baseball title in 1987.

Speaking on behalf of the team toward the end of Sunday’s ceremony was captain Ella Horner, who said the players knew they had something special cooking already this summer.

“I’ve never been a part of a team that has wanted it more than this one,” Ella said. “After our one and only loss to Breese Central, we knew that we never wanted to feel that way again.”

The captain added that entering Saturday’s state final, “we knew that we could win. We just had to execute our game plan.”

Ella closed out her remarks with extreme happiness.

“This is the best thing that could’ve happened to us, and I wish everyone could experience our amazing family,” she said.