Libertyville gets the jump on Wauconda

The atmosphere at Wauconda High School on Wednesday night was electric as the North Suburban Conference contested its girls volleyball championship.

Sure, there was the sophomore match and senior night, but the main attraction was the match between Lake Division champion Libertyville and the home-standing Bulldogs, the Prairie Division champs.

It was actually the third meeting of these clubs for the season, and it went down to the wire.

Libertyville (27-5), riding a 17-game winning streak, went the distance with a 25-22, 23-25, 25-18 win.

But what about the fans on both sides? Evidently the word got out and most of the students came to the game and jumped up and down in support of their teams.

Libertyville has beaten the Bulldogs three times in a row. And Wildcats coach Greg Loika noted each time, it got a little harder.

The Bulldogs (27-6) had leads in all three sets. Several rallies in this match went on seemingly forever, which helps explain the unheard-of 36 digs by Libertyville libero Morgan O'Brien.

"This was a really tough match,'' O'Brien said. "We needed to play our best."

There were four ties in the first set. Libertyville finally opened a little breathing room after a block kill by Erin Dunleavy to make it 19-17.

"It was our defense and blocking,'' Dunleavy said. "We played the best game that we could possibly play."

Set one ended on a thundering kill from by Hannah Zerwas.

"We had a couple of rallies that were pretty-good sized,'' Loika said. "Wauconda is a tough fourth seed and will be a tough out in the tournament."

Wauconda took advantage of some Libertyville errors to open an 11-6 lead in set two. As quickly as the lead opened up, it closed just as fast aided by the serving of Jacqui Widmark. Her back-to-back aces cut into the Wauconda lead. It was knotted at 23-23 before Sara Sexton's kill ended the set with her Bulldogs on top.

"I liked the way we fought all the way,'' said Wauconda coach Alison Williams. "Our defense was also very strong."

The Wildcats had two important rallies to take this final set.

Wauconda led 11-10 when O'Brien headed to the serving line. She took advantage of kills from Zerwas and Dunleavy and a Widmark block kill to forge a 15-12 lead.

Again the Bulldogs pulled closer. Finally Libertyville setter Anna Lillydahl took her turn at the serving line. And that's when senior Allison Watson took over. She had 3 of her team-high 12 kills in the final rally. Zerwas also chipped in as the Wildcats claimed the NSC title.

Loika knows the crowd noise in this affair will prepare his streaking club for the playoffs next week.

"This was a loud crowd,'' he said. "It was awesome."

For Libertyville, Zerwas had 7 kills and Dunleavy added 5 digs. Setter Lillydahl notched 23 assists and defensive specialist Ashley Kroc had 15 digs.

Wauconda libero Ashley Anderson had 19 digs. The very versatile LeAnne Sakowicz had 8 kills, 12 assists and 12 digs, while Sexton finished with 6 kills and 4 blocks. Kayla Wedl chipped in 6 kills and Haley Meyer finished with 3 kills and 6 blocks.