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Boys volleyball: Lake County roundup

For the second time this season, the Vernon Hills and Hersey boys volleyball teams played a three-set match.

And just like the last time in the Glenbrook North tournament earlier this month, Vernon Hills came away the winner.

This time it was in Wednesday night's regional final at Vernon Hills, as the seventh-seeded Cougars won 25-17, 24-26, 25-23.

Vernon Hills (28-9) advances to Friday's 6:30 p.m. sectional semifinals at Antioch against No. 15 Lake Zurich, which upset No. 6 Palatine at Lake Zurich. Lake Zurich defeated Vernon Hills in the two teams' North Suburban Conference match last week.

Dylan DeBoer led Vernon Hills against No. 2 Hersey with 11 kills, while Jared Bennett had what coach Chris Curry called a "tremendous all-around match" (7 kills, 20 assists, and some timely digs).

Lem Turner and Johnny McDonald added 5 and 4 kills, respectively, for the Cougars. Ian Thoren and Chris Winter each had 3 kills.

"We played a great match early, but you got to hand it to Hersey," Curry said. "They really played scrappy defense. They served us tough, and we got a little tentative in that second set. Once we got back to playing defense with a little heart - and hitting a little smarter - we were a better team.

"Our last four kills (1 each by Bennett and Winter and the last 2 by DeBoer) were really smart tooling shots off the block."

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