By RANDY SHARER
Special for The Herald-Whig

NORMAL, Ill. -- The Quincy High School volleyball team has rarely trailed this season, but the Blue Devils knew what to do in that situation in Tuesday's Class 4A Normal West Sectional semifinals.

"Never giving up, that was a big key," said Quincy coach Barb Crist after surviving deficits of 23-19 in the first set and 20-18 in the second before securing a 25-23, 25-23 victory over Normal Community.

The Ironmen become one of the few teams to lead the Blue Devils (35-3), who face O'Fallon (28-9-1) in Thursday's 7 p.m. sectional final.

"Normal gave us a fight and they are a good team," Crist said. "My girls came out and they never gave up. I think this was one of the few times all season we were down, but they kept fighting and fighting."

So did the Ironmen (25-12).

"We struggled putting the ball away," Normal Community coach Natalie Sutimek said. "It's kind of been our Achilles' heel all the season. Give Quincy credit. They are an absolute amazing team, but I couldn't be more proud of our girls. They battled the entire night."

The girl most responsible for knocking out Normal Community was 6-foot-1 right-side hitter Kaitlyn Hankins, who had with 12 kills. She had three during Quincy's 6-0 run to end the first set.

"That's what solved their problems," said Normal's Jackie Gerig, the North Texas recruit who led the Ironmen with nine kills. "They went to her every time. Their setter, she was amazing. She messed with our block a lot."

That setter was Saint Louis University recruit Hannah Kvitle, who had 26 assists.

"Hannah did an outstanding job going to her hitters," Crist said. "She kind of just took the game in her own hands. She's one of those take-charge girls. She puts the ball where she feels it's going to go down."

The second set, which featured 15 ties, was a toss-up when Ashtin Frank's kill pulled Normal into a 22-22 tie. Hankins answered with a kill to put Quincy ahead to stay.

"Kait's been a force for us," said Crist of the former outside hitter. "She didn't like (the right-side), but she fought back and realized 'I'm going to help out on that side to block.' With her ability to hit, she has turned into a pretty good go-to player."

The match ended as Taylor Holtmeyer sandwiched two kills around a Quincy hitting error.

Sommer Holder led Quincy with 15 digs while Brittany Houghton had three blocks. Lindsey Freed had 13 assists, Makenzie Martin had six service points and Mary Trimpe collected 18 digs for Normal.

-- sports@whig.com/221-3365