St. Edward senior Holly Knott no doubt spoke not only for herself but also for her teammates after the Green Wave dropped a 25-19, 23-25, 25-16 Class 2A Willows Academy regional championship match to Immaculate Conception Saturday in Des Plaines.

"I'm so proud of how our team played," said Knott after St. Edward staged a thrilling comeback to take Game 2, only to fall to an inspired IC team that had lost to the Green Wave in last year's supersectional.

"We came together today on every point, good or bad," said Knott. "We kept our heads up no matter what."

The Green Wave trailed at every point of the match with the exception of the end of Game 2, and coach Jamie Dovichi said that constantly playing from behind took its toll.

"We had a rough start," said Dovichi, "and you can't have a rough start and be constantly trying to play catch up in a match like this. It seemed like we were always 2 or 3 points behind."

St. Edward trailed the second game 22-18 but kills from libero Katie Ayello (16 digs) and Callie Johnson (team-high 9 kills) helped bring the Green Wave to a 22-22 tie.

The Green Wave were up 24-23 when another kill from Johnson tied up the match, but IC jumped out to a big lead early in Game 3.

St. Edward, behind an incredible jump-into-the-stands crosscut winner from Johnson, closed to within 20-15 but couldn't sustain the rally.

Junior Stephanie Iglelski added 6 kills for the Green Wave.

"We fought hard," said Dovichi, "but it was tough to keep having to rally. But we're a young team, and this will only help us get better.

"Immaculate Conception is a good team and the best of luck to them."