Boys volleyball: Libertyville advances to regional championship match

Jack Stevens dominated at the net with 12 kills and 4 blocks, and Libertyville's boys volleyball team beat Stevenson 25-21, 25-21 in the Antioch regional semifinals on Tuesday night.

No. 5 Libertyville will play No. 4 Lake Forest in Wednesday's 6 p.m. championship match.

No. 12 Stevenson (18-18) received 9 kills from Grant Maleski and eight from Justin Leonard. Arnav Mitra and Jeffrey Wang dished out 12 and 10 assists, respectively, for the Patriots.

Brendan Cook added 6 kills and 2 blocks for Libertyville, Mark Demaree had 5 kills and 2 blocks, and Ryan Hirschel delivered 23 assists and 3 aces. The Wildcats also got 5 kills from Nick Zoellick, 8 digs from Sam Kharasch, 3 kills from Shane Feieriesel and 5 digs from Steven Donovan.

"It was a really great match with both teams playing well," Libertyville coach Jenny Smith said. "I'm very happy with how our boys performed. Each of them stepped up to have excellent intensity, which led to them playing consistent volleyball, exactly what you need in postseason. Great performances across the board."

Lake Forest d. Lakes: At Antioch, the fourth-seeded Scouts won the first regional semifinal 25-15, 25-20 to advance to Wednesday's 6 p.m. final against No. 5 Libertyville.

Lake Zurich d. Wheeling: At Waukegan, the second-seeded Bears won the regional semifinal 25-17, 25-22 to earn a berth in Wednesday's 6 p.m. final against No. 7 Palatine.

Palatine d. Warren: At Waukegan, the seventh-seeded Pirates rallied to beat the 10th-seeded Blue Devils 24-26, 25-21, 25-21 in the regional semifinal.

Palatine will play No. 2 Lake Zurich in the final at 6 p.m. Wednesday.