PRINCETON – The Rock Falls Rockets’ state championship quest continued Wednesday evening with a 25-20, 25-15 win over the Illinois Valley Central Grey Ghosts in the Class 2A Princeton Sectional final.

Rock Falls will face No. 3-seeded Chicago Christian in the Class 2A Sandwich Supersectional at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The first set between second-seeded teams was back and forth. Rock Falls (33-6) got the upper hand with a 3-0 opening run, but the Grey Ghosts (27-11) fought back, tying it at 16 on senior Sage Geltmaker’s block.

[  Photos: Rock Falls vs Illinois Valley Central Class 2A Sectional final volleyball ]

The Rockets regained the lead with a 4-0 run, sparked by a kill from senior Nicolette Udell. Sophomore Ari Reyna spiked another kill to push it to 21-18, and the Grey Ghosts hit three balls into the net and committed a double-hit violation over a six-point span to close the first set.

“We knew we wanted to come in really strong and really communicative,” Rock Falls senior libero Carli Kobbeman said. “We knew we wanted it more, and we knew that the key to doing that was having a ton of energy.”

Rock Falls opened the second set on a 3-0 run, as well, fueled by kills from seniors Claire Bickett and Udell and the sophomore Reyna.

IVC grabbed a 9-8 lead when senior Lizzy Short spiked a kill, then regained it at 13-11 after senior Etta Wagner and junior Kylie McMorrow hammered back-to-back kills. But the Rockets came roaring back.

Rock Falls junior Kacie Witherow tapped a kill to make it a one-point margin, then Bickett slammed a kill to tie it 13-13. That was the start of a 14-2 run.

“I think we lacked a lot of celebration at some of the points. It would go back and forth, and so we’d start getting in our head and wondering what we have to do next,” Kobbeman said. “So then we stopped and we kept our composure, and we started working together as a team.”

After trading points to a 15-all tie, Rock Falls went ahead on an IVC hitting error. After that, Bickett hammered four kills over a nine-point stretch, and senior Zoe Henson served the match-winning ace.

“The energy was super high. I was really just trying to get it over and in, and then the ace obviously was an amazing feeling. Everyone was so hyped, and it was awesome,” Henson said.

“I know last year we lost in the finals, so this year we really wanted to end it off well, especially with it being [coach] Sheila [Pillar’s] last year.”

For the seniors like Kobbeman and Henson, it’s been a long time coming.

“Great. Amazing. We’re so excited,” Kobbeman said. “We’ve been wanting this since like eighth grade. We knew our group of seniors, we have it, and we want it.”

Bickett totaled 11 kills and seven digs; Denali Stonitsch tallied 23 assists and seven digs; Kobbeman supplied 16 digs; Udell had six kills; Ari Reyna contributed four kills; and Sophia Moeller chipped in four digs for the Rockets.

Geltmaker and Kayt Miller paced the Grey Ghosts with five kills apiece.

“It’s amazing. I’m super proud of these kids,” said Pillars, who will retire after the season. “I’ve really tried hard not to make this season about me, because it really is about this group of girls and my seniors. I’ve just had a lot of great leadership. Everybody’s done a nice job of, one person is on one game, then this person’s on, so I think just a total contribution by everybody is why we’re here today.

“I’m super ecstatic. I’ve been to the supers a couple of times, and I’m hoping that Friday is our time to put one over the edge to get where we need to go. They’re focused, so I’m really hoping that we can get over that hump on Friday.

“It’ll be a good one.”