Alumni Bragging Rights held in Chester
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The 5th annual Alumni Bragging Rights fundraiser between the St. Mary's Lady Hawks and the St. John's Lady Hornets was held on March 27 at Chester High School's Colbert Memorial Gym.
The first four years of the event have featured an alumni basketball game. With the series tied at two wins apiece, organizers of the event decided to add a little twist to the rivalry by playing a women's volleyball contest.
The match consisted of four games with teams organized by decades. Each game had a 20 minute time limit. Rally scoring was used, but no player would be allowed to serve more than five times in a row. The combined scores of all the games would determine the winner.
The 70's version of the Lady Hawks got their school off to a great start when they took a 43-21 lead after the first game. St. Mary's continued dominate during the 80's and 90's games. The Lady Hawks outscored the Lady Hornets 50-15 in game two and 45-19 in game three to take a commanding lead of 138-55.
The fourth game featuring players from the 2000's went to St. John's by a score of 39-22, making the final combined score 160-94 in favor of St. Mary's.
The event featured many other activities in addition to the alumni volleyball match. The evening got off to a great start with a performance of the National Anthem by first graders from St. John's. Throughout the evening the St. Mary's and St. John's cheerleaders and the Chester High School dance team performed for the crowd.
At halftime a serving contest sponsored by Rozier's Country Market was held. Four individuals attempted to serve the volleyball and hit a plate on the opposite side of the court. None of the four were successful. Two players from each school also participated in the serving contest, but they were not successful, either.
Bob Welker of Rozier's Market and Mike Lochhead of Lochhead Service Station each donated $100 to both schools.
Other sponsors for the event included Andy's Auto Body, Bert's Auto Service, Buena Vista National Bank, Chester Dairy, Chester Eagles, Chester Insurance Agency, Chester National Bank, Family Pharmacy of Chester, Fashion Flair, Fisher and Kerkhover Law Office, Gibbs Chiropractic Health Center, Gilster-Mary Lee, Knights of Columbus, KSGM 980 AM/KBDZ 93.1 FM, Larry Burton-State Farm, Out-A-Wack Productions, Pechacek-McClure Funeral Homes, Red Dot Construction, Rough House Pizza, Southern Illinois Buckmasters, Southern Illinois Eyecare, Vazquez's Fitness Center and WOW Design.