A week after making it back-to-back Illinois Central Eight Conference championships after sharing the title with Manteno, the Wilmington girls volleyball team turned its attention to another repeat effort when they played for the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Regional championship at Herscher on Friday as the tournament’s top seed.

But the Wildcats’ opponent, No. 4 Pontiac, had plaque-holding ambitions of its own.

After strolling through the first set with little resistance, the Wildcats saw the Indians make a momentum-shifting charge in the second that spilled over into the third set, giving Pontiac a 16-25, 25-22, 25-17 win that put a shocking end to the Wildcats’ season.

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Volleyball - IHSA Class 2A Herscher Regional championship: Wilmington vs. Pontiac Wilmington's Molly Southall and Aly Allgood, right, reach to block a hit during the Wildcats' loss in three sets, 25-16, 22-25, 17-25, to Pontiac in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Regional championship on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette)

“I did not expect it to be our last game, especially with how well they played the first [set],” Wildcats coach Kelly Van Duyne said. “But volleyball is such an emotional game, such a roller coaster. None of us expected it to be our last game, and to our three seniors, they have left such an impact on our program and our school.”

A small-but-impactful group of Rachel Smith, Molly Southall and Meilia Hincherick, all three-year letterwinners, helped the Wildcats (28-6) cruise to a no-doubter in the first set. But Pontiac’s lethal outside duo of Trinity Miller and Trinity Cheek started to heat up in a second set in which they pulled ahead 12-7.

The Wildcats scored six of the next seven points to knot it at 13 and set the stage for a dramatic back half of the set that would tie again at 14, 15 and 16. A Kate Grosso kill put the Wildcats ahead 17-16, a lead that grew by another point after an Indians hit sailed out of bounds, but one that was short-lived after a quick 4-0 Pontiac spurt.

Makenzie Rodriguez’s block again tied things at 21, but a 4-1 set-ending run was stamped by a Morgan Dewald ace to force a decisive third set.

The Indians’ momentum lingered into the third, where they opened up on a 7-2 run. The Wildcats methodically crawled back to tie it at 11 on a Grosso kill and then again at 15 on a Southall kill, but they’d never lead during the final set.

Cheek’s vivacious kill gave the Indians a 17-15 lead, and after a Wildcats errant hit attempt, tallied two more to bring momentum fully back to Pontiac’s side of the net. Another mishit from Wilmington and a Miller kill made it 22-16, with an Aly Allgood kill the only Wildcats point after that.

“It really, really does suck,” Southall, who has a spring softball season and softball career at North Carolina State ahead of her, said. “I love volleyball so much and it’s developed me as a person just like softball has. It’s been a part of me since I was, like, 5 years old, and it’s just really disappointing because this team was so amazing. We just fell short.”

The senior trio will finish their volleyball careers with a 78-25 varsity record that included two ICE titles and a trip to last year’s Class 2A Sectional championship round. While it might have been hard to process in the moments following the end of their time on the court together, Smith is aware of how much good has come their way together.

“It’s definitely hard and definitely not what we wanted,” Smith said. “We all expected this to not be the last game, but it doesn’t take away anything from what we’ve accomplished.”

And although they may be moving on, Van Duyne knows that the impact her three seniors are leaving with the program will be felt for quite some time.

“In our kid camp, those little kids are always going to remember Rachel, Molly and Melia,” Van Duyne saod. “They have a lasting imprint. These little kids have looked up to them for three years and that’s what being a Wildcat is all about, leaving it all out there for the next generation to come.

“They have definitely left their mark on Wilmington volleyball and at Wilmington High School,” she added. “They’re in (National Honor Society), on student council. They’re the epitome of a student-athlete.”