Immaculate Conception eliminates Lisle

Immaculate Conception didn't just earn a berth in another regional final Wednesday.

The Knights earned themselves a good night's sleep.

In a match full of marathon rallies, the No. 3 seed Knights outlasted No. 2 Lisle 24-26, 25-22, 25-21 at the Class 2A Westmont regional.

“It was tiring trying to keep up with it,” said IC's Delaney D'Amore, “but definitely worth it at the end. The other team put up a good fight and really scrapped.”

Immaculate Conception (26-10) moves on to face Timothy Christian in a 6 p.m. championship match today. The two teams split two matches this year, IC handing its cross-town rival its last loss Sept. 3.

“We're definitely looking forward to it,” D'Amore said.

IC, champion of the Suburban Christian Conference Gold, has won five straight regional titles and three sectionals since 2007. Lisle's last regional title came in 2007.

Lisle's roster is full of seniors, but Lions coach Matt Hrubesky felt his team's relative inexperience on the volleyball court caught up with them Wednesday.

“There were a lot of long rallies,” Hrubesky said, “and it seemed like (IC) won a lot of them. It seemed like the longer the point got we broke down and maybe got a little anxious.”

Lisle (25-11) jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the decisive third set after an ace by Vanessa Abenante. A D'Amore kill was followed by a block and kill by IC's Jenn Clementi, starting a 5-0 Knights rally that gave them the lead for good.

IC overcame its own errors to pull through. The Knights made 15 unforced errors in the first set, including a hitting error at set point. Lisle's first 5 points of the third set came off Knights miscues.

“The girls stuck with it and didn't get flustered,” IC coach Jean Field said. “They could have easily folded the tent. The big thing was to keep things positive. The girls did a lot of good things in that first set. They just had to be aggressive, go out and do the things that they do well.”

D'Amore had 9 kills and 15 digs, Kim Martino 6 kills and 5 assists, Kellyanne Remy 5 kills and 5 blocks and Juliette Ambrogi and Clementi 5 kills and 6 blocks each.

Abenante finished with 11 kills, Beth Plucinski 8 kills and 2 blocks and Anita Urban 24 assists for Lisle, which had beaten IC in three sets in the season-opening match.

The Lions went on to win the Interstate Eight Conference North, winning all but one match in straight sets. That lack of being tested under fire could have cost the Lions.

“IC's level of competition is a little bit better than ours,” Hrubesky said. “We didn't have a lot of opportunities to go back and forth in matches.”

It won't be easy saying good-bye to this group of Lions seniors that came a long way in three years. Just a year ago this same group went 15-18.

“You always want more,” Hrubesky said. “This group was a blast to coach. They're great athletes and still relative newbies at volleyball.”