Lockport falls to Marist in 4A state volleyball semifinal

NORMAL – As was the case all season, there was no quit in Lockport.

Making their first state appearance in 25 years, the Porters had some nerves. But they rallied in the second set before falling 25-14, 25-22 to Marist in the final Class 4A semifinal on Friday at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State in Normal.

The RedHawks (32-9) won their 14th straight and will face Benet Academy, a 25-15, 25-19 winner over Huntley, for the championship on Saturday at approximately 8:55 p.m.

Lockport (35-6) will play the Red Raiders at 7:25 for third and still bring home its first trophy since placing fourth in 1996.

“The first thing I said to the girls is how proud of them I am,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “They had that pride, that sense of community. We never quit, that was our MO. We’ve been down 20-12, 24-21 this season, and come back to win. So I’m proud of the effort.”

The thing was the Porter’s aggressive game plan and first-time jitters didn’t help. Plus, Marist is an excellent team that will be aiming for its third Class 4A championship since 2017.

“I think it was nerves,” Lockport senior middle hitter Jenna Kolosta said. “It was our first time here (in the semifinals) in 28 years. We were a little nervous, but we didn’t give up. Marist is a great team but so are we.”

Kolosta had five kills, including one to open the match. But that would be one of the few leads all evening for the Porters. Ahead 3-2, the RedHawks went on an 8-2 burst and the closest Lockport got after that was six points. One of those times was at 17-11 on a kill by senior opposite-side hitter Emily McGraw. Kolosta, who had four aces, then had two in a row to complete a 3-0 run, but that was the first stretch of consecutive points for the Porters in the match.

Lockport hurt itself with six service errors, four of those in the first 15 RedHawk points.

“We needed to serve them tough and get them out of system,” Mraz said. “But we had a little too much adrenaline with those. We were willing to take some errors as a trade but we made too many.”

In the second set, Lockport led 2-1 and there were four ties through 4-4. But the Porters had an unexpected player step up soon after. Quinn Higham (three kills, ifve digs) had to leave the match because she was bleeding. So enter fellow sophomore outside hitter Malia Cole, who came in and had two kills, sandwiched around a Marist point.

Cole came back in later in the set and added two more kills to finish with four. That’s really good for someone who had a total of six kills on the season.

“I was nervous but it felt good,” Cole said. “Quinn would have done the same if she was in there. We needed some kills and I was glad to provide them.”

So was Mraz.

“She transitioned from being a middle to being an outside,” Mraz said. “We needed a physical player out there and she provided it.”

Malley Green, a sophomore setter who finished with nine assists, came in and served an ace to cap the Porters’ biggest burst of the match, a 4-0 one that gave them a 14-13 lead. But ahead 17-16, the RedHawks had a 4-0 run of their own to start pulling away.

Senior outside hitter, Bella Bullington, had a pair of kills and a block assist in the run. Bullington, a Mokena resident who missed a month of the season with an oblique muscle strain, had a team-high seven kills and added four digs for the RedHawks.

Trailing 24-19, Lockport showed its fight as Kolosta served another ace and junior outside hitter Bridget Ferriter found a block. But, following a time out, junior opposite side hitter Savanah Weathers (5 kills) put down the match-winner.

Magie Kurpeikis, a sophomore outside hitter, had six kills, junior middle blocker Cassidy Cage (four kills, one block), senior setter Maddie Berry (24 assists), and junior libero Elayna Davidson (nine digs) contributed for Marist.

Natalie Bochantin (11 assists, four digs), a sophomore setter, along with sophomore middle hitter Kayla Mitchell (two kills, two blocks), senior libero Sadie Denk (seven digs), and Ferriter, who had a match-high eight kills and added two blocks did well for the Porters.

“It was really exciting,” Ferriter said of playing at state. “There were nerves but the people behind me gave me confidence. We relied on each other.”