A loss to Woodstock North in its first Kishwaukee River Conference match in September didn’t feel good at the time, but it might have been what Richmond-Burton needed.

The Rockets, who had rattled off 32 straight KRC wins until that defeat, knew from that moment on that their quest for a third straight conference title wouldn’t be so easy.

On Wednesday, R-B overcame a second-set letdown to knock off North 25-13, 13-25, 25-15 in Richmond, forcing a two-way tie for the top spot in the KRC with two matches remaining.

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Woodstock North's Madison Sofie bumps the ball during a Kishwaukee River Conference volleyball match against Richmond-Burton on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, at the Richmond-Burton High School in Richmond. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver Shaw Media )

If the Rockets (22-6, 11-1 KRC) and Thunder (17-10, 11-1) win out, the rivals will share the KRC championship.

“The last three years, it’s always been great competition,” said junior opposite hitter Zoe Freund, who tallied four kills, five aces and two blocks. “We lost the last time we played them, and it sounds kind of bad, but I’m kind of glad we did. It kind of opened our eyes a little, like, ‘Hey, we can’t mess around anymore.’

“We can’t take teams for granted.”

Either team would be foolish to take the other for granted.

The schools have dominated conference competition the past five seasons. R-B won the KRC title the past two years, while North won three in a row from 2020-2022.

Richmond-Burton has KRC matches left against Marengo and Plano, while North still has Sandwich and Woodstock.

“There’s always just good athletes on both sides. We want to stay on top of the conference, and we know they do, too,” Thunder first-year coach Rebekah Sellek said. “The fight is going to be there every time we match up.”

Richmond-Burton dominated the opening set, getting four aces and two blocks from Freund and ending it on a 15-4 run.

But the second set flipped completely, with North turning a 5-3 lead to 16-3 thanks to an 11-0 blitz. Junior Eliana Lerias served 10 points in a row for the Thunder, who also got three kills from sophomore outside hitter Ava Kardaras during the run.

The Rockets trailed only once in the third set at 1-0, getting a pair of kills and an ace from Freund, two blocks from Daniella Mazzola and a block and kill from Dani Hopp to pull ahead 10-3. R-B later went up 18-8 on back-to-back kills from Mazzola as the Thunder struggled to put together consecutive points to stop the Rockets’ momentum.

“Between our sets, our captains definitely stepped up,” said junior middle blocker Reagan Wisniewski, who had seven kills to lead the team. “Basically saying, ‘Let’s go.’ Our energy was dying. Definitely the second set wasn’t our best, so we just put our all into the third.”

“North is always a really scrappy defensive team, and we always know we have to bring it with them,” said R-B coach Inger Freund, Zoe’s mom. “For some reason, we’ve struggled to find our energy playing them, which is weird, because we can normally be energetic.

“Once we get in our groove, we’re good. We’ve played high level, but sometimes it’s frustrating. [North] isn’t super tall, they don’t have the hitter with 20 kills, but yet they’re very tough. We’ve got to treat everyone the same, and I think that’s one of the things we’re learning.”

Dani Hopp was second on the Rockets with six kills, adding six digs and one block; Lanee Cooley and Mallory Komar had seven digs apiece; and Josie Franckowiak had 17 assists, one kill and two digs. Mazzola had five kills and three blocks, while Sophia Komar added three kills.

North was led by senior setter Gabby Schefke with 15 assists, nine digs and one kill, Kardaras with 10 kills and one block, and Jenna Johnson with seven kills and eight digs. Maddie Sofie led all players with 14 digs.

“Gabby always stands out. She runs the team well. She’s a good leader out there, and she tries to find any way possible for us to be successful,” Sellek said. “And Maddie Sofie kept us alive in some key plays tonight. She played really hard.”