IHSA volleyball: Princeton battles El Paso-Gridley but falls in regional semifinals

CHILLICOTHE – While always sad to see the volleyball season end, Princeton coach Andy Puck wasn’t too disappointed to see how his Tigresses bowed out Tuesday night in the Class 2A IVC Regional.

They came in as a No. 7 seed, playing 11 days between matches, and battled strong against No. 3 El Paso-Gridley, gaining steam as they played, before falling 25-17, 25-20.

“We got beat by a better team. But I am so proud of my kids on the way we played,” Puck said. “I’m ecstatic. As long as we work on things in a match we work on in practice, I’m pleased. We executed those things tonight. We just got beat by a better team. They’re a really, really good team.”

The things they worked on and executed, Puck said, were “blocking and digging their big three hitters, serving corners and short to take their offense out of system and recycling rallies if not able to first ball side out.”

The Tigresses (16-17-1) showed a lot of spunk to start the second set, taking a 9-6 lead on a kill by junior Ellie Harp. They stretched their lead to 13-9 and after falling behind at 16-14, sided out to tie it back up at 16.

Things began to slip away with Addi Hale hitting for one kill and Reese Deckard for two to send the Comets to a 21-16 lead. Puck called a timeout to rally the troops.

“I called a timeout and they came over and they were down. I told them, ‘We’re playing dynamite. They’re a 3 seed and we’re a 7.’ .... We left it on the floor,” Puck said.

The Comets jumped out to 10-4 and 14-5 leads in the opening set. Keighley Davis, one of five sophomores to take the floor for PHS on the night, hit for a kill and pushed for another to keep the Tigresses within 16-10.

EPG outscored the Tigresses 9-7 the rest of the way to take the opener.

Puck praised his three seniors – Miyah Fox, Chrissy Sierens and Natasha Faber-Fox – for their leadership seasonlong and said they all had one of their best matches Tuesday.

“Super proud of my seniors,” he said. “Didn’t have the season we wanted last year. They came in and set the tone for the juniors and sophomores. They set the example, and the future is very bright. We got a lot of of kids a lot of experience here. We should be pretty solid next couple years, and a lot of that is due to these three seniors.

“Excited about the future, but stinks thinking about that now.”

Faber-Fox reached 1,000 career assists during the match, needing eight coming in. She finished with 15 on the night and 1,007 for her career, ranking No. 8 all time for PHS.

“Natasha had one of her best games while not feeling her best,” Puck said. “She is a fighter and always gave us chances to win. Her 1,000 assists will never go unnoticed.”

Harp led PHS with seven kills, and Davis added five. Fox, the libero, had nine digs, while sophomore Camryn Driscoll had a team-high five points with Fox, Harp and Mariska Mount adding four each.

El Paso-Gridley (26-5) will meet host IVC (25-10) in Thursday’s championship match at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the Princeton Sectional next week.

The Grey Ghosts survived a scare from Kewanee, losing the first set 25-20 and falling behind 12-6 in the second set, before rallying for a 25-19, 25-16 victory.

IVC is coming off a third-place state finish in Class 2A last year.

Other regional winners advancing to the Princeton Sectional will come from Sherrard, Mendota and Port Byron, beginning Monday.