The Lockport volleyball team entered Monday night’s 4A super sectional against Oak Park-River Forest with a simple mission: Get back to state.

After finishing third at state in 2024 and going 32-7 entering the Hinsdale Central Super Sectional, it seemed like a perfectly achievable task. In their way was a 26-7 Huskies team seeking a trip to the state semis as well.

The Porters’ experience from last year may have made all the difference.

After a thrilling match that will likely have the Porters’ hearts pounding the rest of the week, they managed to get the win 27-25, 25-22. The victory gave Lockport the Super Sectional championship and now sends them back to state for the second straight year.

Unless they’re still hospitalized with high blood pressure after Monday.

“That was a high-pressure situation all across the board,” coach Nick Mraz said. “That first set we were down like 23-21, we were down like 14-9, 18-14. For us to push back, keep our composure and get the job done in those intense situations is just awesome.”

After scoring the first point of the match, the Porters saw the Huskies score four unanswered before Bridget Ferriter and company clawed their way back. The junior picked up a kill and started a rally that had the two tied at 6-6. Oak Park-River Forest scored five of the next six, though, forcing Mraz to call a timeout.

A 5-2 run pulled Lockport within one, 13-12, before back-to-back kills by Erin Dwyer made it a three-point set for Oak Park-River Forest. The Huskies scored three of the next four to extend the lead to 18-13, leading to another Mraz timeout.

Whatever Mraz said during the timeout, it worked. The Porters scored three straight points behind a pair of Hutsyn Timosciek kills to force a Huskies timeout. The Porters remained hot even after the timeout, extending the stretch to six unanswered and pulling ahead for the first time since it was 1-0.

The Huskies pulled back ahead 20-19 just before it became a seesaw. A kill by Eva Truss put the Huskies up 23-21 before a Huskie serving error, and a kill by Malia Col tied the game for Lockport. The two squads traded points again until Lockport pulled up 26-25 on an error by Oak Park-River Forest. The Porters got the win on another error after a timeout to take a 1-0 lead.

Set two was a battle from the very start, with both teams trading points to a 4-4 draw. Three unanswered by the Huskies gave them some cushion. The Huskies held a steady two-point advantage for a time after that before Lockport managed to tie it at 11-11. An error by the Huskies later gave Lockport the lead, and the Porters’ fourth unanswered point made it 15-14 on a kill by Natalie Bochantin.

The game went back to a seesaw battle at that point, leading to a 17-all deadlock before Ferriter picked up back-to-back kills to take a two-point lead. Mraz later called a timeout with the Porters up 21-20, and from there the Huskies scored two straight to pull back ahead.

The lead was short-lived as the Porters pulled back up 23-22 on a kill by Ferriter and an error by the Huskies. The led to another timeout by coach Symone Speech, but kills by Ferriter and Timosciek ended it and sent the Porters back to state.

“I’m still a little stressed,” Timosciek said with a laugh. “It’s such a big moment. We went (to state) last year and yet this is still so surreal.”

Ferriter (11 kills), Timosciek (nine kills), Emma Consigny (nine digs) and Bochantin (17 assists) led the effort.

Oak Park-River Forest (26-8) still had an outstanding season. To compete with the Porters as much as they did is worthy of celebration, though there were few dry eyes among the team after the game.

“I’m so proud,” Speech said. “It’s my first season and I’m just so grateful for this group. Every single day I wanted to be in the gym with them.”

Next up for Lockport (33-7) will be the state semifinals at CEFCU Arena in Normal on Friday. They’ll take on Benet Academy at 7 p.m. The Porters will be hoping their vital signs are back to normal by then.

“We just have to stay calm and steady,” Consigny said. “We were a little frantic in the beginning of this game, but we calmed it down. We’ll just need to keep it steady.”