Girls volleyball: Warren roars back, stops Lake Zurich
A 7-0 lead in volleyball? Well, it doesn't mean the set is over, but the team trailing is in a very uncomfortable spot.
Warren's girls volleyball team erased such a 7-0 lead by Lake Zurich on Tuesday night - and went on a 52-26 run from that point.
The Blue Devils (19-13) made this comeback complete with a 27-25, 25-8 win in Lake Zurich regional semifinal play.
Warren will meet top seed Libertyville for the regional title at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"We started playing together as a team,'' said Warren senior setter Nicole Berzin. "Our game just clicked."
Eventually, anyway, as has been typical outing by a slow-starting Warren team.
"We've been kind of up and down,'' said hard-hitting Warren outside hitter Jenna Walczak.
Warren coach Julie Filippo noted the last time her team played Lake Zurich, it was just about the same game.
"It was deja vu,'' Filippo said. "We played them identical to this. It was the same scenario. We lost 25-23 and won 25-12, 25-7. We've done that all year."
Again, the home-standing Bears (14-20) stormed off to a great start. With Nicole Gaggiano banging away at the net and teammate Hannah Sweetwood helping out, it looked early like Warren would never score.
"When we were up 7-0, I wanted it to be 10-0,'' said Lake Zurich coach, Rachel Wiatrowski.
Again,Warren led just once in the first set - at the end.
On a Sam Denio kill, the LZ lead was still alive at 22-20.
Warren had consecutive kills from Claire Lundtveit and Natalie McNally to pull the Devils closer. One of Walczak's game-high 12 kills, knotted the set up at 25-25.
Once the Warren machine took set one, it was clearly too much to handle.
"We know how to fight back,'' Filippo said.
Berzin began serving rockets at the LZ defense. Next up at the serving line was McNally; she nailed a pair of aces. A Kim Hengesh kill helped up the Warren lead to 8-2.
Walczak clearly took over set two. At one point, the senior had 3 kills in a row. The Bears, after the great start, scored just one point from the serving line in set two. And it came on a mistake by Warren.
McNally's ace ended the match and Lake Zurich's season.
"We had hard-working girls to coach,'' Wiatrowski said of her first Lake Zurich squad. "They came to work hard every day."
Warren will draw the top seed in the Libertyville sectional. The Blue Devils have been able to stay close to the 31-game-winning Wildcats this season.
"Libertyville is very good blocking team,'' Walczak said.
Filippo knows her club can compete with the Wildcats.
"We have to play together,'' she said. "Anything can happen in the regional."
Helping out Walczak on the Warren offense was McNally (7 kills) and Hengesh (5 kills). Berzen notched 9 assists, and Allison Maan de Kok had 6 assists.
Sweetwood and Lexi Gora each had 6 kills for the Bears. Setter Grace Masgood had 16 assists, while Briana Reitsch had 7 digs on defense for Lake Zurich.