Zhou directs Libertyville's winning effort

That's Zhou, as in "Wow."

And fact is, the Cindy Zhou factor is a developing story for Libertyville's girls volleyball team, as it seeks to duplicate last season's success.

The sophomore setter's maturation on the court continued Wednesday night in undefeated Libertyville's 23-25, 25-13, 25-12 nonconference win over visiting Carmel Catholic.

A captain this year, Zhou was the varsity's starting setter last year, too.

"It was hard to get her to even say what her name was," said Libertyville coach Greg Loika, whose 4-0 Wildcats host New Trier tonight.

"Last year she was with a bunch of seniors. She was 14. They were 18. So to ask her to go out there and push people around was a lot. But we knew she could handle it, and it's paid off dividends because she is just a big-time leader right now."

Zhou, who says she stands 6 feet "in shoes," did a little bit of everything against Carmel (2-3). She dished out 27 assists on 65-of-67 setting, while also posting 5 kills, 8 digs, 1 block and 1 ace.

She was especially effective with tip kills that had Carmel on its heels.

"That's basically the only time I get to attack, so I like to use it when I can," Zhou said.

"It's the only way I get to rack up my stats," she added, smiling.

Loika says Zhou has gained tons of confidence since her freshman season. Now, she's telling hitters where to go, making smart decisions with the ball and directing the Wildcats' 5-1 offense seemingly with ease.

"It's awesome to see her developing," Loika said. "She's going to be a great, great player."

And in contrast to last year, she's now demonstrative.

"I'm kind of shy," Zhou said. "But this year I really broke out of my shell."

Libertyville broke out, period, in Game 2 against Carmel. After Taylor Pippen's dink kill gave the Corsairs a 2-point win in Game 1, the home team burst to an 8-2 lead. Zhou contributed a kill and block during the run, while Catie Steffen chipped in one of her match-best 12 kills and one of her 2 aces.

Game 3 was more of the same, with Libertyville jumping out to a 6-1 lead thanks to its defense and net play of Zhou, Steffen and Paige Hopper (9 kills).

Carmel hurt itself with defensive breakdowns and inconsistency with its overall play. Corsairs first-year coach John Uhrik disagreed that Libertyville dominated his team in the final two games.

"We dominated ourselves," Uhrik said. "I don't want to take anything away from (Libertyville) because they have some good strong players and they're a solid team, but we never gave them a fight."

For Libertyville, which also got 5 kills from Taylor Zant and 4 kills and 3 blocks from Nicole Kruckman, the win avenged a loss early in last year's state tournament that ended the Wildcats' season at 26-9.

Steffen and Kristen Webb had 13 and 12 digs, respectively, for Libertyville.

"Our last couple of matches have been a little less than impressive in terms of what we can do, and I think the girls had a little bit of revenge on their mind," Loika said. "They were ready to play, and I think they had confidence playing our game."