Marist escapes Lincoln-Way East, advances

Updated: October 27, 2011 8:51PM

With a pumped-up underdog squad from Lincoln-Way East winning Game 2 of Thursday’s Class 4A regional semifinal, Marist was in danger of seeing its season end in T.F. South’s gym for the second straight year.

The No. 4 RedHawks refused to let that happen though, getting contributions from nearly everyone on the roster and pulling away in the finale for a 25-17, 22-25, 25-15 win over the No. 5 Griffins.

“We had horrible memories of this gym (from a 2010 supersectional loss to Lyons) and we didn’t want to come back,” Marist’s Dana Loncar said. “But we redeemed ourselves tonight.”

Loncar was a big reason. She came off the bench and sparked the match’s biggest run with her serving as Marist broke open a 12-11 dogfight in Game 3 with a 5-0 surge that included two Loncar aces.

“Losing the second game was a reality check,” Loncar said. “We knew we couldn’t give away points. I just wanted to help my team out with my serve.”

Kelly Marcinek (12 kills, 3 aces), Mallory Salis (11 kills, 4 blocks), Ashley Holder (27 assists, 15 digs) and Kirsten Ivkovic (7 blocks) led Marist (31-6), which will face rival Mother McAuley in Tuesday’s Andrew Sectional semifinal.

Kayla Currier, Katie Allen and Lauren Behrens had eight kills each to lead Lincoln-Way East (29-8).

The Griffins jumped to a 5-2 lead in Game 2 and made the lead hold up, taking control for good when Allen delivered two kills for a 23-21 lead.

In the end, though, it was too much Marist. Loncar’s serving got the RedHawks going in Game 3 and kills from Elyse Panick, Salis and Marcinek extended the lead to 22-13 before Salis’ kill on match point sealed it.

“Our subs really did the job tonight,” Marist coach Natalie Holder said. “I’m so proud of (Loncar).”

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