NORMAL - The 27th annual Intercity Volleyball Tournament will be remembered for stands packed with exuberant fans - some of whom had painted their bare chests in support of their teams.

History also will recall close competition as five of the 10 matches went three games and three of the five teams tied for third place.

The record also will show host Normal Community had enough steady, all-around play to overcome the high-flying power of Bloomington to secure its 16th outright title to go with a pair of shared crowns.

"Overall it was just a great team effort," said Ironmen coach Andrea Kenny, whose team went 4-0 in the round-robin to improve to 13-1.

"It didn't matter who I put in in what situation, they got the job done."

It took hard work to get past Ashley Beyer and BHS, but the Ironmen did, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21. Beyer had 16 kills and teammate Kristin Petrinec 15.

"Ashley Beyer just dominated us," Kenny said. "We didn't have an answer for her, but we did everything else pretty well and that gave us a chance to win.

"I told them before the match, Bloomington is going to get their kills. They are a great offensive team. We have to do everything else."

BHS finished second with a 3-1 record and moved to 20-1 overall. Tying for third at 1-3 were University High (9-6), Central Catholic (11-9) and Normal West (10-9). U High and Central Catholic are both 5-1 in the Corn Belt Conference.

"We made way too many mistakes," said Purple Raider coach Joe Sanders, whose team made five service errors in the final game against NCHS.

The Ironmen, co-champs last year with U High, were led by Jenny Menendez, who had nine kills and 12 digs. Auburn-recruit Nicki Gerig had 26 assists while Tulsa-bound Hannah Stout had seven kills.

"We just kept the ball in play and played smart," Stout said.

"Overall we stayed emotionally steady and I think that's what helped us come out and win," said Gerig, who had 101 assists for the day.

NCHS opened with a 25-22, 25-15 win over U High as Menendez provided 10 kills and eight digs.

The Ironmen followed with a 19-25, 25-18, 25-16 triumph over Central Catholic and ended with a 25-9, 25-22 win over Normal West.

BHS began with a 25-13, 25-22 decision over Normal West before needing three games to dispatch U High, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20. The Raiders topped Central Catholic, 25-13, 25-23.

BHS didn't expect to have 6-foot-2 sophomore Kasey Heckelman, but she played four games despite a stress fracture in her back. She will soon have to wear a back brace, which will prevent her from playing the rest of the season.

Heckelman could have played more, but Sanders wanted his players to get used to the new roles they will have without her.

"We've only been working on our new rotation for a week and we were right there," said Sanders, who only used Heckelman in the first game against NCHS. "We knew it would be rough without her."

Petrinec roughed up BHS foes for 43 kills for the day. Kristin Stauter added 112 assists and Allison Kirk 42 digs.

Central Catholic won its Corn Belt match with U High, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, with help from Megan Schmidt's 16 kills. Schmidt finished the tourney with 38 kills and three blocks.

First-year Saint coach Emily Kabbes said the tournament was good for her team.

"It's good competition and we played with everybody here," she said. "We still need to work on side-out volleyball. We had a couple games today where we had teams score too many points on us in one rotation."

Nicole Henson led Central with 16 service points and 30 digs for the day including 15 digs against U High. Stephanie Lamb and Kristyn Mysker each had 32 assists. Megan Fitzgerald added three blocks.

U High's win came against Normal West, 23-25, 25-10, 25-14.

"We played really tough against Bloomington," said Pioneer coach Cathy Sanders, who fell to 3-3 all-time against her husband Joe's BHS squad. "It kind of took us awhile to wake up against Normal. We were really up and down today.

"In our last match (against Central), we played like we didn't want to be here anymore. That's tough to say, but that's what it looked like."

DePaul recruit Kyndell Highland led U High with 43 kills for the day and Bridget Lam added 37. Taylor Bruns had 58 assists and Maggie Bee 49. Tanya Ploense chipped in nine blocks while Liz Harbors had 25 service points.

Normal West's victory came against Central Catholic, 25-23, 25-20, but the day left Wildcat coach Maggie Erlenbaugh feeling her team had regressed.

"It just wasn't our day," she said. "After the tournament, we called this day a roadblock for us. It was kind of a step back because we had been playing so well."

Indicative of Normal West's play to Erlenbaugh was the fact her dig leader, Liz Heineman, only had 28, a total she normally gets in one match. Laura Wilcox added a team-high 17 kills while Allison Stover had 15. Freshman Jenn Harr had 52 assists. Kelsey Detweiler notched 31 service points and nine aces.