Girls volleyball: Sycamore outlasts Burlington Central for regional crown

Dancing on the court with the final 30 seconds winding down before the third set began Thursday night, Sycamore's Grace Lichthardt had a big smile on her face as she kept her cool while talking to fellow seniors Laci Neece and Reese Morgan.

"The biggest thing I told them out of the huddle was to make sure we're playing to win, not to not lose," Spartans coach Jennifer Charles said. "We were staying loose, and (Lichthardt's) dancing was letting her other teammates know that we're OK, we can play loose and be OK.

"I think it set the tone for the third set."

It most certainly did, as the sixth-seeded Spartans rallied to knock off the fourth-seeded Rockets 14-25, 25-15, 25-18 to win the Class 3A Burlington Central regional title. Sycamore advances to Monday's Class 3A St. Francis sectional, where they will take on the hosts in a semifinal.

"We're a third-set match team," Charles said. "We just had to settle in. Everyone made sure they drove out to Central High School to make sure they got their money's worth."

Sycamore (20-14) fell behind 4-1 in the decisive set before rallying to tie it at 13-13 after a huge block from junior Ava Carpenter. A pair of hitting errors allowed the Spartans to pull ahead, 16-14, and they'd never trail again.

"We pride ourselves on having high energy and being great teammates towards each other," Licthardt said. "After the first set, we knew we had to bounce back, and this year we really like to play three sets."

Sycamore (22-14) improved to 8-7 in matches decided in three sets this season, overcoming a challenging start.

Burlington Central (20-16) got the kind of start it was hoping for, but simply couldn't sustain it.

"We came in knowing that they were a fighting team," Rockets coach Julia Smagacz said. "We saw them fight on Tuesday, so we knew we had to come out strong, so obviously we succeeded in that regard. We held onto it for a little bit, but couldn't transition it over from set one to set two, but I'm very proud of the way they came out and fought."

Each team led by double digits before winning its respective set to force the third one.

Cara Fant, Ava Carpenter, Neece and Licthardt each had an ace in the second set to lead the Spartans.

Reese Morgan's ace in the third set gave the Spartans a 22-16 advantage, while Neece finished the Rockets off with one of her own.

"I think our third-set serves really kept us in the game and got them out of system, which really helped us a lot," Neece said. "We haven't won a regional since I don't even remember, so we just had so much energy and wanted to win so bad.

"We all just pushed through in the end."

After being deadlocked at 14-14, the Spartans closed the final set with a 10-4 run.

'I give credit to Burlington Central, they're a well-rounded team, and they have some great players," Morgan said. "We just knew we had to communicate and pick up our serve-receive. We got out offense in system and ran their shots and knew where they were, and that's what kept us going."

Once the Spartans were on their game in the final two sets, they looked like a completely different team.

All but three of Sycamore's 15 players are seniors compared to Burlington Central, which only had three.

"A big factor is our starting lineup is all seniors except for our outside hitter (Carpenter)," Licthardt said. "The seniors have been playing together since seventh grade and have always had the drive to win. A lot of the girls who have been on varsity have been looking forward to this."

While the Spartans move on, the Rockets look ahead to a promising future behind 6-foot-2 junior Leah Freesemann and 6-for-3 freshman Ainsley Wilson, among others.

"We lose two senior starters and three seniors total," Smagacz said. "I've said this before, the future is pretty bright for us, and it's exciting moving forward with a good core coming back."