It's rematch time as Carmel, Libertyville tee it up

On high school football's Week-9 Friday night, Lake County's top two volleyball teams squared off in their own regular-season finale.

Tonight, the Carmel Catholic and Libertyville girls get prime-time all to the themselves.

Are you ready for some ... volleyball?

Top-seeded Libertyville (32-6) and No. 3 Carmel (33-5) meet at 6 p.m. in the Class 4A Glenbrook North sectional final. At Vernon Hills, meanwhile, No. 3 Wauconda (27-8) and top-seeded St. Francis will battle for the Class 3A sectional title at 6 p.m.

Carmel will be looking to beat Libertyville for the second time in 14 days.

"Both teams know each other," Corsairs coach David Pazely said. "We've been playing each other for years. Last year, they got us. This year, we got them. Now we're meeting in the playoffs. It's going to be exciting."

Carmel outlasted host Libertyville 25-21, 17-25, 28-26 when they met Oct. 24 in a nonconference match. Both teams played short-handed.

"It was a rough loss because it went to three and we were up at the end," Libertyville's 6-foot-2, Cornell-bound Alex Basler said. "We're all so excited to play them again. Of course, they're a big rival, right down the road. We know a lot of the girls."

Gracie Schofield, Carmel's 6-foot outside hitter who's committed to Drake, missed the first match after spraining her right ankle the night during warm-ups against St. Viator. Schofield missed three matches in a row before returning to the court for the regional final against New Trier.

Libertyville was missing junior outside hitter Erin Dunleavy (shoulder) and a couple of other players due to illness, coach Greg Loika said, when the Wildcats faced Carmel.

Carmel is playing in its fourth sectional in Pazely's four seasons as coach. Both the Corsairs (East Suburban Catholic North) and Libertyville (North Suburban) won conference championships this season. In Tuesday's sectional semifinals, Libertyville beat No. 4 Glenbrook South 25-20, 25-21, while Carmel dispatched No. 7 Stevenson 25-18, 25-20.

"It's definitely exciting," Schofield said of tonight's rematch in Northbrook. "I didn't get to play the last time against Libertyville, and I was really bummed out about that. This time it's definitely out for blood. It's for the trophy, so I think we're going to come ready to fight."

Tonight's winner advances to Saturday's 2 p.m. Fremd supersectional against the winner of tonight's Crystal Lake South sectional final between the host Gators and Cary-Grove.

Tonight's sectional champ at Vernon Hills moves on to Saturday's 1 p.m. Belvidere supersectional and will face the winner of tonight's Rochelle sectional final between Marian Central and Dixon.