Volleyball: River Ridge rallies to sink Marquette in sectional semifinal

FORRESTON — For a set and a half Monday night, Marquette looked like it was in complete control.

For the last set and a half, however, it was River Ridge in the driver’s seat.

Trailing 20-13 in the second set after losing the first, the Wildcats rallied to win the second set, then carried that momentum through the third set in a 16-25, 25-23, 25-18 win over the Crusaders in their Class 1A Forreston Sectional semifinal.

“We are one of those types of teams that when we’re down, we tend to dig ourselves holes and then we claw our way out of it,” River Ridge junior hitter Addison Albrecht said. “We have been in so many holes like that; we saw it in the regional semifinals, we saw it in the regional finals. We dug and we dug. We’re a team that we know our true worth, and we did not want that to be our last game as a team.”

Marquette (32-7) cruised through the first set, leading by four or five points most of the way after three straight points by Lindsey Kaufmann and two points by Avery Durdan, including an ace. Back-to-back kills by Eva McCallum and Lilly Craig made it 17-11, then another kill by McCallum made it 19-12. A free ball by Mary Lechtenberg landed for a kill, then Durdan tooled the block before a River Ridge error ended the first set.

A kill and two aces by Kaylee Killelea around a Lechtenberg block, then kills by Lechtenberg and McCallum staked the Cru to a 6-1 lead in the second set. Craig spiked a pair of kills after a River Ridge run cut the deficit to 8-6, then Nora Rinearson served three straight points — the final one an ace — for a 15-10 lead. Kills by Killelea, McCallum and Craig made it 20-13.

But that’s when the match turned. After a net violation by Marquette, River Ridge got an ace from Sophie Buck, then kills by Amie Richmond and Sadie Fry around a Marquette error to get within 20-18. Fry’s kill ended a long, spirited rally that seemed to invigorate the Wildcats (19-14).

“I think we just started playing a little bit more loosely and we really focused on coming out aggressive rather than playing scared,” River Ridge coach Brittany Sinagra said. “We were just kind of tight and we weren’t being purposeful with the ball, and they just kind of decided, ‘If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down swinging.’ And it worked to our benefit.”

Durdan had a pair of kills after the teams traded errors for a 23-19 lead, and it looked like the Cru had weathered the storm.

But a kill and an ace by Richmond ignited the final six-point run for River Ridge, and after a Marquette error made it 23-22, Albrecht had a block to tie it up, then slammed back-to-back kills to finish it and force a third set.

“I’m not even sure where it shifted. It was just a couple points, and we got stuck on our heels and it didn’t matter what we did,” Marquette coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “Timeouts, shifting people, nothing worked; it just wasn’t our night, unfortunately. And then in the third set, we came out timid and didn’t swing like we usually do, and we weren’t as aggressive on serving and got a little off on receive, and unfortunately, our season’s over.”

The third set was all River Ridge at the start. Consecutive kills by Fry, a kill by Albrecht and three Marquette errors made it 6-0 and forced a Cru timeout. At that point, the Wildcats had scored 18 of the last 21 points.

“We run our highs off of that energy,” Albrecht said. “We were really flat for that first set and half of the second set, and that’s when we were getting down. Once we started getting that energy, that’s when we really started to ride it and get the momentum.”

A kill and block by McCallum around a block by Craig got Marquette within 8-5, but back-to-back kills by Gwen Miller a few points later pushed the Wildcat lead back to 12-5. The teams traded points for a while, with Albrecht kills bracketing a McCallum spike to make it 18-13. Two kills by Killelea cut the deficit to 18-16 and forced a River Ridge timeout.

But a serve into the net, a kill by Richmond and back-to-back net violations by Marquette gave the Wildcats a 22-16 lead. Fry had a tip-kill to answer a Killelea spike, then Fry slammed a kill to get to match point before Marquette hit into the net to end it.

“They’re a good team, and I’m not going to take anything away from them,” McConnaughhay said about River Ridge. “They swing very well, they’re aggressive, they’re scrappy and they’re hot at the right time. All the kudos in the world to them; hopefully they come out and they win the whole sectional.”

Albrecht had 10 kills and three blocks and Fry added nine kills and a block for River Ridge, which came from behind for the third straight match. Miller had 17 assists and four kills, Laiken Haas had 10 assists and two kills and Richmond chipped in 13 points and four kills.

“It’s taken us a little while to get here, but we’re peaking at the right time,” Sinagra said. “I know at one point in that second game when we were down, I called a timeout and we came back a couple points and they called a timeout, and I just asked them what changed, and the girls said ‘We’re not ready to be done.’ I think they’re finally finding that inner fire within them, and they’re not willing to dwell on their mistakes; they want to fix them and keep going.”

Killelea had 11 assists and six kills and Durdan also spiked six kills for Marquette. McCallum had seven kills and six digs, Maera Jimenez had 12 assists and two kills and Craig (4 kills) and Lechtenberg (3 kills) each stuffed a block. Kaufmann chipped in 14 digs and two assists and Rinearson added seven digs.

The Cru say goodbye to five seniors, including starters Kaufmann, Killelea and McCallum, but McConnaughhay said they put their stamp on the program.

“I can’t complain, it was a great year. We won our conference title outright, we won the conference tournament, won a regional. We set the school record for wins,” she said. “These seniors have been absolutely amazing. I’m very emotional; I’ve had two of them for eight years, since they were in fourth grade, and the rest of them since sixth or seventh grade. It’s going to be strange not having them around. They’re amazing, amazing kids, and I’ve been very blessed to have them in our program.”