VOLLEYBALL: Princeton advances to regional final

The Princeton volleyball team took full advantage of the home court Tuesday as the No. 5-seeded Tigresses advanced to the Class 2A Princeton Regional final with a 25-18, 25-22 sweep of No. 4 Mercer County,

“We need to clean things up a bit for Thursday night, but all in all, Katie Bates did real well spreading the ball out and our back row played really well,” Princeton coach Andy Puck said. “We gave ourselves chances to win and this time of year that’s all that matters. I think we were the more aggressive team. We also played good defense and sprawled and picked up some balls and really rallied around each other.”

The match began with both teams feeling each other out before Princeton pulled away on the service of Bates with help from the net dominance of Anna Robbins, who recorded a kill and a stuff block in a five-point run to give the Tigresses a 14-9 advantage.

Mercer County pulled to within three on an ace by Zoey Miller to make the score 16-13 before the Tigresses strung together four more points on a pair of aces from Madison Richards, one of which scraped the net and then found hardwood.

Mercer County rallied back on a pair of kills from Karli Stineman to make the tally 20-16, but Princeton put together another run on the service of Kenzie Coleman that ended with an ace to close the door on the first set.

The second set began with a flourish for Princeton as Abby Peterson confidently ran off six points from the service line. She recorded an ace and got plenty of help up front as Richards hammered home a kill and McKenzie Hecht followed with a pair of high flying kills of her own to spot Princeton to an early 6-0 lead.

But the Lady Eagles battled back with a pair of Stineman kills and a kill from Isabella Cuellar to tie the score at 9-9.

The set continued to stay close as the Princeton’s Maya Gartin smashed a pair of kills to keep the home team close before Peterson served the Tigresses to a 16-13 advantage on the strength of a pair of Richards kills.

Back came the Lady Eagles on Stineman’s serve to even the score at 18-18, but again Princeton had an answer with a thunderous kill by Robbins to take a 21-19 lead.

Mercer County again battled back on the service of Sheridan Hank to tie the score at 22-22 before Coleman drilled home a huge spike to stop the rally. She then took her turn at the service stripe, and after another Gartin kill, Coleman fired an ace to end the match and punch the Tigresses’ ticket to the regional final.

Princeton (22-14) will take on Orion at 6 p.m. Thursday. The No. 1-seeded Lady Chargers (34-1) advanced with a 25-12, 25-10 victory over Kewanee in Tuesday’s first semifinal.

“We have a shot at the regional title,” Puck said. “Orion is the real deal, so we’ll practice (Wednesday) and lay it on the line Thursday night.”