Strong showing from Vernon Hills at Glenbrook North
Vernon Hills' boys volleyball team drew the No. 7 seed in the Antioch sectional this week.
The Cougars then went out this weekend and showed they might have been worthy of a higher seed.
Only Barrington prevented Vernon Hills from winning the two-day Glenbrook North tournament. Vernon Hills won its first four matches before losing its finale to Barrington 25-18, 25-23 on Saturday.
Vernon Hills captured two-set victories over Buffalo Grove and Libertyville on Friday, before defeating Hersey (25-18, 19-25, 25-23) and Lake Zurich (25-23, 25-17) on Saturday.
"We lost some matches early (in the season) that cost us votes, I'm sure," said coach Chris Curry, whose Cougars are 19-7. "But the guys wanted to show that we'd improved since those losses, that maybe we'd be a dangerous (No.) 7 to deal with. So we ended up beating the No. 3 seed in the sectional (Buffalo Grove), and the No. 2 seed (Hersey). And I think we made Barrington (the No. 1 seed and the top team in Illinois) work for that win (Saturday).
"We've got work to do, but if we keep improving, we may get to see those No. 2 and No. 1 seeds again in the state playoffs."
Dylan DeBoer was named to the all-tournament team for Vernon Hills, as he finished with 31 kills, 23 digs and 6 block kills. He didn't miss a serve all day Saturday.
The Cougars' Jared Bennett had a great tournament, too. He ended with 26 kills, 25 digs and 77 assists, and he led the team with 12 block kills.
"He played some of his best volleyball of the year this weekend," Curry said.
Cougars senior Cory Levin set 90 of 95 with 53 assists. Lem Turner led Vernon Hills in kills with 39.
After a tough night in pool play, which included a three-set loss to Buffalo Grove and hard-fought match against Vernon Hills, Libertyville rebounded to win the third-place pool. The Wildcats beat Schurz (25-10-25-8), Niles West (25-17, 21-25, 25-21) and Oak Park (25-23, 25-22) on Saturday.
Libertyville (18-13) received 27 kills and 44 digs from Chris Akers and 23 kills from Konnor McCormack.
Stevenson (17-14) lost to Barrington (25-17, 25-18), Buffalo Grove (25-19, 29-27) and Hersey (25-12, 25-17) on Saturday. The Patriots' Grant Maleski had 12 kills against Buffalo Grove.