News-Gazette Article FITHIAN — The St. Thomas More volleyball team secured its second consecutive Class 2A regional title with a 25-18, 25-15 win over St. Joseph-Ogden on Thursday night. The top-seeded Sabers relied on 14 kills and six digs from Shannon Monahan against the fifth-seeded Spartans, with Addie Kerr chipping in 14 assists and Cassidy Monahan contributing eight kills to help the winning cause. In the process, Shannon Monahan became the Sabers’ all-time kills leader with 1,334 for her career during the sweep of SJ-O. “(Thursday night) was maybe our best passing night,” STM coach Brad Dalton said. “We ballcontrolled really well, we were in system a lot, which really put a lot of pressure on their defense. And their defense played really well.” An Illini Prairie Conference match against SJ-O on Sept. 19 also titled in favor of the Sabers (33-4), who extended their streak of regional championships that dates back to 2016. “It’s become the expectation to do well in the postseason,” Dalton said. “I think that could have been part of the tightness on Tuesday (in a 2-0 win against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin) ... (Thursday night) was less nerves, they were focused.” SJ-O (16-19) was keyed by Ava Seggebruch’s six-kill effort, while Tinley Ideus added 10 digs and Emma McKinney assisted on 16 points. “I think our kids competed this week at a higher level than they have in the past several weeks,” SJ-O coach Abby McDonald said. “I just was impressed with the level of play that we had in the postseason. Although we struggled at times during the season, the tradition of SJ-O volleyball competing in the postseason still lives.”