Impressive winning effort from Grant

And this is the 10th seed in the Libertyville sectional?

With such powerful hitters, such as like Kylie Mueller, Hannah Johnson and Taylor Drake?

That school from Fox Lake has a strong setter in Kate Kiser, and Grant also has excellent defenders in Kelli Varney and Megan Whitman.

Grant's volleyball team is peaking at the right time. The tall Bulldogs (15-6) had a slow start in set one on Tuesday night at home, while Antioch had the hitting of Candace Nelson and the defense of libero Kayla Vasquez in its favor. And the Sequoits stole the set 25-21.

And then what happened?

"Our energy was off in that first set,'' Johnson said. "And then we warmed up beginning with that second set."

Grant indeed woke up. To the tune of a victory, 21-25, 25-16, 25-9 in North Suburban Prairie action.

"We started playing as a team,'' Mueller said. "We are like a family both on and off the court."

There were a few powerful hits from Mueller in set one but it was Antioch's defense that starred early. On a big block from Erika Gallimore, the Sequoits' lead was 6-3.

It was 20-20 on a Drake kill for the Bulldogs. Then Nelson took over for her Sequoits down the stretch. She had 2 kills as Antioch took set one.

Antioch did not take a lead in either of the last two sets.

"We have played together for so long,'' Johnson said. "We know how to pick each other up."

With setter Kiser (30 assists) serving, the second set lead went to 8-3.

Johnson, Jordynn Hundley and Megan Gebauer had kills during the run.

On back-to-back kills from Johnson and Mueller, the Grant lead grew to 19-12.

The decisive third set was close for a little while. Again, Nelson made an impact, with both a service ace and a kill. The Sequoits were within 7-4.

And then Whitman went into serve for Grant. By the time she stepped down from serving, it was 18-8. Back-to-back kills from the 6-foot-2 Johnson put an accent on this win.

While a few clubs in Lake County have reached the 20-win mark, Grant has a few more wins to before reaching that level.

"We still have two tournaments to play,'' said Grant coach Sue Thompson. "We still have to play in them in Woodstock and Quincy Notre Dame."

Johnson (6 kills) and Mueller (5 kills) led the Grant attack. Johnson also led the blocking effort with 4. Varney paced the Grant defense with 14 digs, and Whitman had 11 digs.

Next up for Grant in an important NSC Prairie game on Wednesday against Wauconda.