Boys volleyball: Libertyville regroups, wins tourney title

Jack Stevens rang up 44 kills in five matches as Libertyville's boys volleyball team won its own invitational on Saturday.

The Wildcats took second place in their pool, losing a tight match to Deerfield (17-25, 25-20, 15-13), before defeating Palatine (23-25, 25-19, 15-11) in the semifinals and St. Rita (25-22, 25-13) in the finals.

Libertyville finished 4-1 on the day.

"After struggling with errors and inconsistency early in the tournament, the guys really righted the ship and played the best volleyball we have seen so far to take the championship from a very offensive-heavy St. Rita," Wildcats coach Jenny Smith said. "Aggressive serving and excellent timing with our blocking gave us the upper hand. A nice job all around today."

Ryan Hirschel racked up 117 assists, 7 kills, 7 aces, 4 blocks and 21 digs for the Wildcats. Brendan Cook and Drew Fortini had 32 and 24 kills, respectively. Fortini also notched 6 aces, 11 blocks and 15 digs.

Libertyville's other contributors included Mark Demaree (8 kills, 10 blocks, 5 digs), Shane Feieriesel (16 kills, 16 blocks, 2 digs), Matt Franz (5 kills, 3 aces, 4 blocks, 3 digs), Sam Kharasch (55 digs, 7 assists, 2 aces), Steven Donovan (37 digs, 2 assists, 1 kill) and Tanner Dorow (2 digs, 2 aces).