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Libertyville prevails at Prospect

The depth on Libertyville’s girls volleyball team was shining brightly on Saturday at the 30th annual Pifer Invitational at Prospect High School.

Backup setter Molly Moon, making the first five starts of her varsity career, helped steer the Wildcats to their third straight championship of the invite named for longtime Knights girls volleyball coach Sandy Pifer.

With Moon directing a 5-1 for most of the invite, the Wildcats went 5-0 for the third straight time in the Jean Walker Field House.

“It was so fun,” said Moon, a three-sport athlete (track and field, basketball) who played on the junior varsity volleyball team a year ago. “I know I can run any play because we have so much depth with our hitters.”

McHenry (3-2) was second, followed by Lake Park (3-2), Prospect (2-3), Palatine (2-3) and Maine East (0-5). Only one team reached 20 points on Libertyville in any set (Prospect in Set 2 of a 25-9, 25-20 loss).

Moon was filling in for Michigan recruit Cindy Zhou, a junior standout who was getting a break after playing in seven matches in six days.

“She just has a little soreness in her shoulder but nothing serious at all,” said Wildcats coach Greg Loika. “We just wanted to give her a little break. We have senior night on Tuesday so we’ll probably go with Molly again and then have Cindy back for the Stevenson Invite (on Saturday).”

Loika stressed “diversity” as the key to Saturday’s perfect showing.

“We were getting everyone on the team into different positions,” he said. “And we were not missing a beat.”

Moon finished the tourney with 65 assists.

“Molly ran the offense great,” Loika said. “We knew she would. We see her run the offense in practice every day so we knew it would be no problem for her.

“I think we had a new player in almost every position on the floor. We went with five middle hitters and there wasn’t really a drop-off from one through five. ”

Among Moon’s top targets on Saturday were Taylor Zant (31 kills), Eileen Knauff (19), Julia Smagacz (19), Dana Kym (9), Kerry Risley (8), Nicole Kruckman (7), Katie Waehner (5) and freshman middle hitter Alex Basler (5).

Zant had her best day of the season offensively, including a team-high 11 kills against Lake Park. Liberos Rhiannoin Prentiss (32 digs) and Webb (53 digs) anchored the defense with a combined 85 digs on the day. Waehner notched a team high 9 aces.

Webb, Zant and Knauff were named to the all-tourney team.

“Every last player contributed to this in a big way,” Loika added. “Our back row did a great job putting the ball in system so we could run a complex offense which we’ve lacked recently, and our hitters were smart and aggressive all day long.

“This tournament was the evidence of the depth and versatility of our team. No matter who was out on the floor, we were able to control the tempo of the matches all day long.”

The Wildcats went 4-1 in at the Wheaton Warrenville South Classic the previous weekend.

“We were a little slow coming out of the gate,” said Loika, whose team started out 1-3 but has now won 12 of its last 14. “We’ve really found it the last few weeks. I would say everyone was firing on all cylinders.”

Moon emphasized how everyone stepped up.

“We had people playing positions they may not have been comfortable in, but it showed how all the hard work we do in practice allows everyone to still be consistent wherever they play.

“I watch Cindy (Zhou) all the time in practice. I really look up to her. Even though she is younger than me, she is such a great role model and I admire all her skills.”