Girls volleyball: Libertyville turns it up against Warren
Six points away from seeing their special season end prematurely, Libertyville's volleyball girls emerged from a timeout and heard a roar.
Their student fans, situated in a corner of Warren's bleachers, suddenly ramped up their volume. Even several Libertyville adults sprung from their seats and joined the kids for a standing ovation.
Libertyville senior setter/hitter Anna Lillydahl heard them loud and clear.
"Those are my friends," Lillydahl said. "They were going crazy and they were getting everybody hyped up. It totally worked. I just loved it."
Libertyville's fans loved what came next. Trailing 19-15 in the third set against Warren, the Wildcats notched the next eight points and escaped with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-22 win over their North Suburban Conference rival to capture the Class 4A Warren regional championship on Thursday night.
Top-seeded Libertyville (26-11) will next play No. 4 Palatine at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in a semifinal of the Lakes sectional. The Wildcats' energetic student fans figure to make the trip to Lake Villa to support their team again.
"We have a really, really good fan base," Lillydahl said after racking up 8 kills, 27 assists and 11 digs. "We're really proud of them. They help us build up our energy. If we're down by a few points - or a lot of points - it helps. And our team is so good at coming back from (deficits)."
Morgan O'Brien paced a gutsy defensive effort for Libertyville with 36 digs, adding to her recently established all-time school record. Anna Valente pounded a match-best 12 kills and Madison O'Brien (no relation to Morgan) added 9 kills.
Libertyville had also beaten Warren in three sets on the Wildcats' home court in NSC action.
"They were a different team," Libertyville coach Greg Loika said. "We saw them play (against Grant) after our match (against Mundelein) on Tuesday, and they played lights out. They played a great match."
Claire Lundtveit's 10 kills led No. 8 Warren (20-14), and Natalie McNally slammed five. Hannah Barbosa paced the Blue Devils' defensive effort with 17 digs, while McNally added 12.
"We played very well," Warren coach Julie Filippo said. "This is probably the best I've ever seen this team play. They played together, they didn't give up, and we passed better than we have in the past. Libertyville gave us a lot of chances, and we didn't terminate on them."
Warren, which enjoyed a 9-4 lead in the second set after taking the opener, went up 19-15 in the third after a Libertyville player muffed a ball at the net. Loika called timeout.
When play resumed, Warren rattled off three straight hitting errors. Lyndsey Lyon hammered home a free ball at the net for the Wildcats, forcing Filiipo to burn a timeout, but the Blue Devils didn't respond, muffing a Lillydahl serve following the stoppage.
Libertyville's Caroline Frea then got a block and landed another ball to the back row, hiking the Wildcats' advantage to 22-19.
Match point came when a Warren return sailed wide.
"(Libertyville) got in their heads," Filippo said. "It's the game of volleyball. If you can get in the other team's head, you can make them make errors."
Warren's inspired play included that of setter Allison Maan de Kok. The junior dished out 16 assists, despite injuring her shoulder in a car accident Wednesday morning on the way to school and missing practice that day. Filippo wasn't sure whether Maan de Kok would play against Libertyville.
Said Filippo: "She's a tough cookie."