I would like to personally apologize to St. Charles East freshman Meghan Niski (if she cares) for leaving her off the Honorable Mention list when the All-Area Volleyball team was published last week. That was purely a inadvertent omission -- probably one of a few -- on my part.

She definitely deserved recognition. In all honesty, she was among the final cuts for the 2nd Team and I just forgot to add her back to the Honorable Mention list.

For some reason that has really been bugging me and I felt I needed to say something.

Niski played a big part in the Saints' success this season, racking up 293 kills and 277 digs during the regular season. She continued to play a major role for the title-winning Saints all the way through the state tournament.

The Honorable Mention list should have read like this:

Central vs. JCA -- Minutes away from the Class 3A state title match between Burlington Central and Joliet Catholic.

Joliet Catholic, ranked No. 9 in the nation (prepvolleyball.com) comes in as the heavy favorite, backed by a steep history and arguably the toughest schedule in the state .The Angels (38-3) have appeared Downstate seven times, four under current coach Christine Scheibe. Scheibe guided the Angels to their only title in 2003.

This is Central's first Downstate appearance. The undersized Rockets are used to the underdog role and this one will be no different.

JCA defeated Central (35-6) during the regular season in three games. Although both coaches admitted yesterday that was a long time ago.

St. Edward finishes on top -- St. Edward concluded its season with a 25-22, 26-24 victory over Princeton for third-place in the Class 2A State Finals on Saturday at Redbird Arena.

Saints ready to rumble -- St. Charles East is on the court warming up. The Saints are set to take on Evanston in the first of two Class 4A semifinal matches that will conclude a full -- and long -- day of volleyball.

The winner will advance to Saturday's title match to play either Benet or Mother McAuley.

Rockets prepare for Grizzlies -- Burlington Central is minutes away from its Class 3A semifinal matchup with 37-1 Chicago Payton.

It's a "white out" for the Central supporters, who are all wearning white shirts and waving towels. Central's fan base clearly outnumbers the Grizzlies fan base.

Long day ahead -- Well, it's 1 p.m. and we are already behind here in Normal at the girls volleyball State Finals.

St. Edward, scheduled to begin at 12:30, has yet to take the court.

When it does, I will update this blog entry periodically throughout the match (we'll see how things go).

Check back throughout the day for more updates and notes.

I will also be blogging for Burlington Central and St. Charles East. Despite falling behind time-wise, we should be able to catch back up after Class 2A concludes its semifinal matches. There was already a scheduled break until 4:30, when play resumes with Class 3A and 4A semifinal matches.

Preview capsules for Burlington Central, St. Edward and St. Charles East.