Coach Andy Puck and his Princeton Tigresses were fighting to “Stay Alive in 25” in Tuesday’s Class 2A Riverdale Sectional semifinals

They took that battle cry deep into the third set of leading 18-14 over Peoria Notre Dame.

The Irish rallied to tie the game at 18 and scored the final three points to take the match with a come from behind 16-25, 25-16, 25-22 to advance to Thursday’s sectional finals against host Riverdale.

What made the loss sting more was it was there for the Tigresses’ taking.

“On the way over I was thinking, ‘Just stay alive in 25,’” Puck said. “We just weren’t able to at the end. We’re better than that. We know that. But you’ve got to give Notre Dame a ton of credit. Just took us out of our comfort zone.”

“We had chances. We just didn’t execute in the right way that I know we can. We should have won that game,” senior Keely Lawson said. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. It was a good rally, We didn’t make the blocks. They were just finding the holes really where we weren’t.”

The Tigresses jumped out to leads of 6-1 and 10-3 lead in Game 3. Notre Dame charged back with a 6-0 run to close within 10-9 and tied it at 13.

Caroline Keutzer served for an ace to put Princeton up 15-14. After the Irish sided out, the Tigresses ran off three straight points including an ace by junior reserve Madie Gibson, who proved to be a secret weapon with seven points filling in for libero Camryn Driscoll, who had a shoulder injury.

The Irish returned the favor with a 5-0 run and appeared to score a sixth, but the officials called for a replay when a Notre Dame assistant coach was hit with a yellow card.

Princeton came back with the point instead to tie the game at 19. A kill by Keutzer tied it at 21 and an ace by Keighley Davis tied it back up at 22.

The Tigresses would not score again, however, as the Irish made off with the 25-22 winner.

“Just got very inconsistent in a lot of areas. Think we got a little too antsy,” Puck said. “Then they made a little run. They were calm and pretty cool and we were the ones on our heels, not wanting to make an error, make a mistake. If you’re playing that way it’s got to stop really quick. We gave ourselves chances to win, we just didn’t give ourselves enough chances.”

Senior setter Makayla Hecht said the Tigresses did well to bounce back from the game 2 loss.

“We definitely had to reach down and reset and try to pull it back,” she said.

Lawson said it was a great season for the Tigresses, accomplishing their goal of winning regionals.

“This team is special. That’s about all I can really say about it,” Lawson said. “We went out the way we wanted to go out. We wanted to make history. We won that regional that we wanted. There’s nothing more than we can ask for.”

Princeton came out of the blocks fast in Game 1, outscoring the Irish 8-3 to take a 17-11 lead. Hits by Davis, Keutzer and Danika Burden and three service points by Lawson pushed the Tigresses lead to 21-14.

Keutzer made a deep push and a kill and Lawson dug up game point for a 25-16 winner.

Notre Dame turned the momentum around in game 2, jumping out to leads of 6-1, 10-3 and 17-8.

The Tigresses sided out and got an ace by Keutzer and a block by Maciczak to close within 17-11. Lawson hit for a couple of sideouts to make it 19-13. An ace by Lawson pulled the Tigresses within 22-15, but they got no closer, falling 25-16.

The Tigresses bow out at 21-15-1, falling in the sectional semifinals for the second time in four years.

Lawson led the Tigresses with 11 kills with Keutzer and Davis adding eight each. Ava Kyle and Davis each had 10 points, Lawson added nine points and two aces and Maciczak eight points and two aces. Also for PHS, Driscoll had 12 digs and Hecht 25 assists.

The Irish (25-12) will meet Riverdale (24-10-1) in Thursday’s sectional finals at 6 p.m. The Rams beat Eureka 2-0 in Tuesday’s first semifinal.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 14

Princeton's Caroline Keutzer makes a pass against Peoria Notre Dame in Tuesday's sectional semifinals at Riverdale. (Mike Vaughn)