Girls volleyball: Hampshire knocks off Larkin in 3

Someone apparently was impersonating the Hampshire girls volleyball team for the first set at the Class 4A Belvidere North regional Monday.

Once the real Whip-Purs showed up, they got down to business and came away with a 19-25, 25-17, 25-19 victory against Larkin in a first-round matchup.

The Whips take on second-seeded Prairie Ridge at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the regional semifinals..

Maggie Seagren had 7 kills and 17 digs for the Whip-Purs (12-23). Khryz Louise Peralta added 5 kills, Allie Peters came up with 19 digs, and setter Hannah Dalby dished out 21 assists.

Hampshire looked completely out of sync at times in dropping the first set, particularly during an 8-1 Larkin run midway through the game.

Coach Andrew Lindley thought it was just a case of nerves.

"It was a long day at school and they came out with some energy and it took them a little bit to calm down and get into it," he said.

The second set was a different story, however. After falling behind 1-0 on an ace by April McGhee, the Whips started a run of their own, opening up a 9-3 lead. Peralta had 2 kills and a block during the run. Hampshire stretched the lead to as many as 8. Larkin refused to go quietly, scoring 3 straight to make it 23-17, but Hampshire got kills from Seagren and Amy Tasche to close it out.

Set 3 was more of the same. Hampshire fell behind early, and trailed 8-6 after a pair of aces by Mackenzie Malone, but answered with 10 straight points to take command. Madison Kosyla was on the service line for most of that run, contributing an ace.

Larkin coach Henry Graack was happy to see his team go out fighting

"We've been kind of passive all season," he said. "But that's not how we closed out the season. We were aggressive from the beginning."

Ella Riddle-Roland led a balanced Royals attack with 7 kills. Audrey Shores added 6, and Izzy Orozco and Natalie Kofie had 5 apiece. Kofie also had 16 digs and 22 assists. McGhee had 18 digs, 5 assists, and 3 aces.