Kaneland’s Rosie Karl was doing her best at playing big.
The 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter and the undersized Knights were facing a tall order — historically and on the court — against perennial powerhouse Wheaton St. Francis.
Across the net, the Spartans featured 6-6 middle Jessica Schmidt and 6-2 setter/right-side hitter Addy Horner. A tall task indeed, according to Kaneland setter Meredith Milz.
“Six-six, you don’t see that every day,” Milz said. “They’re very tall. We’re a shorter team, and facing a team like that is definitely a challenge for us.”
Despite having just one 6-0 player, Kaneland met the challenge Wednesday night.
Karl finished with 13 kills and led the Knights back from what could have been a devastating loss in the first set to push the Class 3A Burlington Central Sectional final to three games.
In the end, St. Francis prevailed 26-24, 22-25, 25-18 to win its 29th sectional title.
The Spartans (27-12) advance to a 7 p.m. Friday match in the Sterling Supersectional. They will face Metamora, a 25-23, 25-20 winner over Limestone at LaSalle-Peru.
Kaneland (29-7), meanwhile, is still searching for a second sectional title, hoping to add to a banner in the gym adorned with a lonely 1977.
“We’ve made it here many times — we’ve just got to get past the championship,” Kaneland coach Cynthia Violett said. “The first thing I did Tuesday at practice was take them over to the banner.
“We haven’t been to the Elite Eight since 1977.”
The Knights have reached the sectional five of the six times the playoffs have been held since Violett started her second stint in 2016 coaching at Kaneland.
Four of those times, the Knights have lost in the final, twice to eventual state champions.
Karl and Co. started strong Wednesday, jumping out to a 14-8 lead in the first game on one of four aces in the match served up by Milz.
“It was so exciting,” Karl said. “Our energy was so good, and we knew we needed that against this team.”
St. Francis fought back to take a 20-19 lead before the Knights rallied, taking a 24-23 lead on Milz’s block.
Milz then served for the game, but the Spartans responded with three straight points, the last two on back-to-back kills from Horner.
“It was a big, big, crucial point because the second set we had with ease,” Karl said. “If we could have won the first set, we wouldn’t be in the position we are right now.”
The second game was tight throughout and tied at 13-13 when the Knights took the lead for good on one of senior Bre Ebert’s 10 kills. Karl closed it out off one of 18 assists by Milz.
Ebert, who shares setting duties with Milz, added 10 assists.
“It was tough losing the first game like that,” Milz said. “It takes away your momentum and you start to have self doubt, but we came back. After the second, we were like, ‘We’re good. We’re good.'”
The third game was also back and forth, with the Spartans leading 16-14 before taking control on a 7-2 spurt. Horner, a sophomore, had 18 kills for St. Francis.
“She was the one we had to key in on because she’ll take control of the game,” Violett said. “We were trying to take advantage of when she was in the back row as much as possible and trying to hit around the big block.”
Schmidt, a senior, had five kills and three blocks but altered plenty of Kaneland attacks.
“It is frustrating,” Karl said. “This is one of the best teams I’ve played on. Not just skill-wise, but every person on the team is awesome.
“We fought hard and we took it to three games against an extremely good team. I think that’s all we could ask for other than winning.”