Girls volleyball: Kaneland's season ends with sectional semifinal loss to St. Laurence

Kaneland rallied to victory twice after losing the opening set during the regular season.

The Knights couldn't force a third set and attempt to do that again after losing a heartbreaking first one, falling 26-24, 25-9 to St. Laurence in Monday's Class 3A Evergreen Park sectional semifinals.

The game, originally scheduled to be played at Lemont, was moved to a central location for the two teams, although Kaneland's 55-mile drive was 50 miles longer than St. Laurence's.

Glenbard South, which cruised by Chicago Kennedy, 25-5, 25-13, in the earlier sectional will meet St. Laurence in Wednesday's sectional final.

"It's tough to see it end for them," Knights coach Cyndi Violett said. "They're a special group and that did a lot of really good things."

Kaneland (27-11) won the 8 Eight Conference, a regional title and nearly pulled off a third rally in the opening set against the Vikings.

The Knights took their first lead at 8-7 on a kill from senior Delaney Calabrese.

After falling behind 17-14, they'd rally ahead to 19-17 after some hitting errors from the Vikings along with kills from Calabrese and Morgan Beam.

St. Laurence (25-12) would pulled ahead 22-20, but the Knights would rally ahead again at 23-22 before the Vikings answered once again to win in thrilling fashion.

"That took a lot of wind out of us and gave them a lot of momentum," Violett said. "And volleyball is all about momentum."

By the time Kaneland had scored in the second set, Violett had already burned a timeout.

Senior Adalynn Ruh finally got the Knights on the board, but they were looking at a 6-1 deficit and didn't have a response until they scored three straight after trailing 23-6.