Yorkville Christian’s historic playoff run comes to a close against Cissna Park in sectional semifinal

OTTAWA — All signs were pointing toward a decisive third set in the Class 1A Ottawa Marquette Sectional semifinals on Tuesday between Cissna Park and Yorkville Christian.

Cissna Park had taken the first set 25-20, but the Timberwolves soon found themselves down 19-6 to the Mustangs in the second set.

At that point, a Cissna Park timeout seemed to get the Timberwolves back on track as they then scored 11-straight points to cut the deficit to 19-17. Yorkville Christian managed to hold them off a bit longer, with the score being tied at 22-22 and 23-23, but Cissna Park pulled ahead for a 25-23 win to clinch the match and a spot in Thursday's sectional final against Lexington.

The Timberwolves improved to 33-3 on the season while Yorkville Christian, coming off its first regional title in program history, ended the season at 13-23.

The Cissna Park timeout that preceded the pivotal run in the second set was simply an attempt to get the team headed in the right direction before a likely third set, said Cissna Park coach Josh Landon.

"In that timeout, every intention was just to try and build a little bit of momentum," he said. "We needed to chip away, take whatever points we could and start building toward a third set. I said, 'If anything else happens out of this so be it, but we need to start putting some things together to gain confidence and make sure Yorkville Christian knows we're still ready to play on this side of the net.'"

Immediately following the timeout, Cissna Park got a kill from Sophie Duis to snap a 4-0 Mustang run. With the Timberwolf freshman Ella Schluter now serving with the team trailing 19-7, Duis got another kill to keep the momentum moving forward. She had two more kills during the 11-0 run, finishing with five kills in the second set and eight for the game.

Addison Lucht led Cissna Park with nine kills and also served on the final two points of the game, the first being an ace and the second leading to a game-ending hitting error from Yorkville Christian.

Landon said that his team's ability to fight through that second set, and to not give up when backed up against the wall, was great to see.

"I'm almost at a loss for words with it, but it's the way they were able to keep composure," he said. "A freshman is behind the service line, our passers are picking up tips and things they were able to pick up throughout that run to close the gap to two and then finally push to the end, it's just amazing."

While the loss for Yorkville Christian was certainly tough to swallow, the 2024 season was a landmark one for a program that is less than a decade old. Despite losing nine of their final 11 regular season matches, the Mustangs gutted out close three-set wins in the regional quarterfinals and semifinals, their first ever postseason wins. They then beat host Grant Park in two sets to win the Class 1A Grant Park Regional.

Despite the tough loss, Yorkville Christian coach Alyssa Ferchen said that the team should be proud of what they were able to do throughout the year, even if she thinks the players did not necessarily believe they could come this far at the beginning of the season.

"I thought they could, but I don't think they believed in themselves," she said. "I think for them to come back and win a regional game, our first ever regional win, I think it was really exciting for us to even get this far."

After setting a foundation with this season's playoff success, a large group of players are set to return and try to take the next steps in building up the program. Just three seniors were on the roster this season, and nine of the 10 players set to come back are underclassmen.

Ferchen said that she believes this group will be able to capitalize on the growth they had throughout the season and come back strong in 2025, this time with some playoff experience under their belts.

"Throughout the season we grew in the mental game immensely," she said. "If we would've been down two or three points [early in the season], we would have just given up and lost the game. But throughout this playoff season we have been able to fight back and come back from being down four, five, six points. I think mentally they're ready for the next season."