Richmond-Burton looked poised to take control of the second set and force a third against Lakes Monday night after three straight points by setter Josie Franckowiak, middle blocker Daniella Mazzola and outside hitter Sophia Komar.

Instead, it was the Eagles who fought back after ties at 22, 23 and 24 points to sweep the Rockets 25-22, 26-24 with a match-clinching ace from junior Isabel Stauber in their nonconference match in Richmond.

“We can’t let up,” R-B first-year coach Inger Freund said of Monday’s setback. “We have a lot of games where we’re up and we kind of let people back in. We have to learn to finish when we’re hot and not wait.”

The Eagles (15-5), behind a match-high 10 kills from junior Ray Sundquist and seven from sophomore Brynn Skinner, claimed Monday’s match in a battle of regional champions from last season. Lakes won a 3A title, while R-B claimed one in 2A.

Lakes fell behind 22-20 in the second set when sixth-year coach Sarah Yeager called a timeout, urging her team to finish.

“It’s been a minute since we’ve beaten Richmond,” Yeager said. “They’re always really good and we knew they weren’t going to just give us Set 2. ... We thought they were going to run rotational on the outside. Then we saw them switch to perimeter. I told the girls it’s going to come down to us outworking them in the end.”

Skinner, a team captain as an underclassman, put down five kills in an opening set in which the Eagles only trailed once at 1-0.

“Communication definitely brought us back,” Skinner said. “We play really connected when we’re talking. ... We just had that next-ball mentality. Game plan was to go out and play our game. Just play fast, fast tempo, so they aren’t able to keep up with us.”

The Rockets (16-6), at times, did have trouble keeping up, but they never trailed by more than five points at any point. In the second set, Lakes’ biggest lead was three.

“We weren’t used to playing as fast as we were tonight, so it’s just making sure that we get up there and block,” said Franckowiak, who had 17 assists, two aces and one block. “It was kind of a pressure situation for us. I don’t think we were used to that.”

Komar led R-B’s attack with five kills. Coastal Carolina commit Dani Hopp (ace), Zoe Freund (ace) and Mazzolla (block) had four kills apiece.

R-B was coming off a second-place finish in its own invite on Saturday, which also featured Crystal Lake Central, Burlington Central and McHenry from the Fox Valley Conference.

In the final against Guilford, junior middle blocker Reagan Wisniewski suffered a concussion and was not available Monday.

“I think if we had Reagan, it would have been a different match,” Inger Freund said. “Missing that blocking aspect was huge.”

For Lakes, junior Sammi Madsen tallied 22 assists and two aces and junior Lovelyn Zamora had a team-leading 12 digs. Zamora kept a long rally going in the second set with a tough dig on a hard hit by Hopp that eventually led to a Stauber kill and 24-23 lead.

“[Zamora] is always on point,” Yeager said. “She had to have passed over a 2.0 tonight. I don’t know if she passed any bad volleyballs. Without first contact, we can’t do anything else.”