Prairie Ridge rallies past St. Francis to earn state berth

GRAYSLAKE – An IHSA poster board in the shape of the state found its way into the hands of Prairie Ridge girls volleyball coach Hilary Agnello amid a sea of euphoric Wolves fans at center court.

Agnello used the cutout to fan herself.

“It’s so stressful,” she said with a laugh.

Every fan needed a fan.

Maizy Agnello, the coach’s sophomore daughter, had 17 kills and 12 digs, and Prairie Ridge, overwhelmed in the first set, overcame early jitters to beat two-time defending state champion Wheaton St. Francis 10-25, 25-10, 25-17 in the Class 3A Grayslake Central Supersectional on Monday night.

“We could not do anything right [in the first set], and [St. Francis] couldn’t make a mistake,” Hilary Agnello said. “They were firing on all cylinders, and everything they do well they were doing.”

Prairie Ridge (27-13), which advances to state for the first time since 2018, will play Bartonville Limestone in a semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena in Normal.

St. Francis finishes 27-13.

“Certainly you’re not going to sweep a team like [Prairie Ridge],” said Spartans coach Lisa Ston, whose team looked like it might after the first set. “We knew when we won that big the first game that was very abnormal. We watched a lot of film on them and knew they were super aggressive and a great attacking and defensive team.”

Once Prairie Ridge gained its confidence and started running its game plan, the Wolves went from being dominated by the Spartans to dominating them. PR sent the match’s opening serve into the net, sprayed its first attack wide, and the Spartans went up 11-3 with Addi Samolinski serving eight straight points. The Wolves never recovered and never got its serving game going.

A kill by Spartans senior Jenna Glaudel helped close out a lopsided first set.

“Our serve game is huge for us,” Hilary Agnello said. “When we weren’t scoring from the end line, it was a challenge for a while.”

Hilary Agnello said Prairie Ridge’s serving was the difference in the second set. The Wolves went up 2-0 on a kill by Adeline Grider (five kills) and never trailed. Agnello’s two aces helped extend the lead to 9-3, and the 6-foot hitter later added her third ace. Grider also served an ace during the set.

“I think we just came out that second set and we had so much more passion,” Prairie Ridge senior setter Grace Jansen said. “I feel like all the nerves melted away. We were like, ‘We’re here now. This is it. We want to make it to state.’ ”

A tightly contested third set saw St. Francis pull within 17-16, but with Julia Reina serving, the Wolves took control. Grider, a 6-foot sophomore, was strong down the stretch with two kills, including the match winner, and a block.

“Absolutely huge,” Hilary Agnello said of Grider. “We moved our lineup around [recently], and it really paid off because she hits better off one setter [Addison Smith], and the other hitter [Jada Hoyt] hits better off the other setter [Grace Jansen]. When we did that, we were able to get her to be more offensive, which is huge because it spreads things out for everyone else.”

St. Francis’ 6-3 Addy Horner, a Wisconsin commit, had seven kills to tie Mackenzie Krzus for the team-lead and added 11 digs.

“She can bang a ball,” Prairie Ridge senior libero Allison Rogers, who had eight digs, said of Horner, who also sets. “But I think our team did a really good job of working around her and looking at their team’s weaknesses and capitalizing on that, and then setting up our blocking and homing in on our strengths.”

Horner, a four-year varsity player, and 6-foot senior Emma Delaney were the Spartans’ only players on the court who started on last season’s state title-winning squad.

“It’s obviously tough [losing],” Horner said. “I’m really proud of how we fought through the season, though. There were a lot of ups and downs, and I’m proud of our hard work.”

Tegan Vrbancic added 15 digs and four kills for Prairie Ridge. Hoyt had six blocks and three kills, and Jansen had 11 digs and 15 assists.

“They’re a really good team,” Horner said. “They swing really hard, and their defense is really good. It’s a hard team to put the ball down against.”