After a slip-up at home against Manteno last month, the Wilmington girls volleyball team knew that if it wanted to defend its Illinois Central Eight Conference title, it would have to get revenge when the Wildcats visited the Panthers on Tuesday.

Taking some lessons from last month’s loss, the Wildcats applied what they learned to prevail with a 25-22, 25-16 sweep that tied the Wildcats (20-3, 9-1) and Panthers (20-4, 9-1) atop the ICE standings with four matches remaining.

“We were not going to be OK with losing tonight,” senior outside hitter Rachel Smith said. “We knew we could win. We just wanted it and came together.”

Smith and Wilmington coach Kelly Van Duyne both said they knew they had to improve at the service line and on the block after last month’s 2-1 loss to the Panthers, two areas where they excelled at Tuesday.

Matched up against mighty Manteno senior Maddie Gesky in the middle, Wilmington junior middle hitter Makenzie Rodriguez rose to the challenge with four kills and three blocks.

“It’s really hard,” Rodriguez said of preparing for her matchup with Gesky. “It definitely was a mental game with me, because I just needed to close blocks in my gap. Overall, I think we did that tonight, but it was really a mental game for me.”

Van Duyne, who prepared Rodriguez and the Wildcats for the 5-foot-11 Gesky by “standing on a jump box and the spots that she hits, I hit them at (the team) as hard as I can,” said Rodriguez and Kate Grosso’s block on a Gesky kill attempt that put the Wildcats up 2-1 in the first set is when she knew they had a good chance Tuesday.

“We play point by point, but it really set the tone when Makenzie Rodriguez and Kate Grosso blocked her on that very first one,” Van Duyne said. “I knew we had it.”

The Panthers’ lone lead in the first set was 1-0, but they stayed stride-for-stride with the defending conference champs until Smith buried back-to-back kills to secure the first set. With seniors Smith (seven kills) and Molly Southall (five kills) anchoring the Wilmington pins, being able to get that outside block up is one of the areas Manteno coach Alexis Hosselton said her Panthers struggled to do with consistency.

“Rachel and Molly, they’re incredible for their offense, and that’s always the game plan against them; they’re middle heavy, we’re middle heavy, they’re pin heavy, so it’s always making sure we’re getting our blocking outside,” Hosselton said.

“The blocking just wasn’t totally there tonight, our swings weren’t totally there tonight, and we just didn’t play our best game. You can prepare for it all you want and look great in practice, but it’s the execution on the court that matters.”

The Panthers again scored the first point in the second set, this time on a Kendall Blanchette kill, but again a kill and block from Rodriguez quickly put the Wildcats on top for a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Winners of seven in a row and 12 of their last 13, the Wildcats locked up their third straight 20-win season and are guaranteed no less than a share of the conference title if they can continue their streak down the stretch run, beginning with Thursday’s home tilt with Lisle.

“Everybody is stepping up,” Van Duyne said. “Usually when you get to the start of October, you hit that little rut, but everyone is stepping up and doing their jobs.”

The Panthers got four kills apiece from Gesky, Blanchette and Maddy Belisle. Morgan Derrico tallied a team-high 13 digs, while Leah Donnelly’s seven assists were one more than Danika Fletcher had.

As they look to bounce back at Coal City on Thursday, Hosselton knows her talented bunch can quickly regroup.

“They do a really good job of coming together,” Hosselton said. “This is one of the hardest-working teams I’ve ever coached, so I know this will be a great motivator. I told them you’ve got to go through some adversity to grow, so if we’re going to lose, what we can we do and what can we learn from this to improve?”