Girls Volleyball: Bella Rio helps Kaneland shake off slow start, beat Glenbard South in regional semifinal

GLEN ELLYN – MacKenzie Ewen knew she had to get her serves in.

After Kaneland’s uncharacteristic first-set loss, Ewen, a senior libero, helped kickstart the Knights for a 9-0 run in the third set of Tuesday’s Class 3A Glenbard South Regional semifinal to pull away from Glenbard South, 19-25, 25-11, 25-9.

“Honestly, it was my mental state. My thought was basically this is our do-or-die,” Ewen said of the turnaround. “If we lose, it’s the end of our season. My brain kind of kicked in and basically overturned all of my emotions, and I just kind of took it for myself and served.”

The Knights (32-3) have a date with Interstate 8 Conference rival Sycamore, which defeated Fenton in two sets in Tuesday’s other semifinal, to decide the regional title Thursday. The Knights won both regular-season matches with Sycamore.

Kaneland rebounded from 15 unforced errors in the first set, just one of the reasons for the Knights’ slow start.

“I really think we came out and we were way too overconfident,” Ewen said. “We had been kind of talking it up all day, and we really had to feel ourselves out almost because we weren’t ready. We weren’t ready mentally, and I don’t think we were ready physically, either, but I think the second and third sets, we really turned it around. And finally, pulled our heads out of our butts, pretty much.”

The Knights pulled within four or five points at a given moment in the first set, but Glenbard South’s energy pushed the Raiders to the finish line.

After Meghan O’Sullivan’s kill brought Kaneland within 21-19, the Raiders finished it off with a kill from Paige Stephenson, a Knights attack error, a block from Megan Daca and an ace from Samatha Lullo.

“I’m guessing it was nerves,” Kaneland coach Cynthia Violett said. “It was not us at all. You’re not going to win a set when you have 15 unforced errors. We just gave them 15 points for no reason at all. So, hopefully, they got it out of their system.”

The second and third sets evidently showcased that was the case, as the Knights cruised comfortably in both sets.

“That was about as well as we played all season,” Raiders coach Chad Grant said. “Our kids just competed so [I’m] very proud of their effort tonight. Once our serve receive started to break down a little bit in the second and third set, it’s just difficult to match them offensively hitter for hitter. We’re really just not equipped to swing against double blocks all night long, so they eventually just wore us down.”

Glenbard South (12-24) was led by Brittany Miller’s four kills and three aces.

Kaneland senior outside hitter Bella Rio rose to the occasion to pace the Knights with 13 kills on a night when they apparently needed her at her best. O’Sullivan had six kills, while Buckley had four.

“Bella really picked it up and started playing really well,” Violett said.

“Thank God for Bella tonight,” Ewen said. “She really was the MVP tonight. Honestly, we had a lot of struggles on the outside tonight, and if it wasn’t for her, I think we might’ve lost this game.”