Boys volleyball: Libertyville hangs on against Mundelein

There is a target on the back of the Libertyville boys volleyball team.

And it got hit on Wednesday.

But it wasn't a bullseye, certainly not a fatal wound.

Libertyville, with its undefeated North Suburban Conference record, got an eye-opener right out of the gate at Mundelein. The host Mustangs came out swinging and got a first-set win. But the poised and determined Wildcats rebounded and won the next two sets to get a victory in the match, 18-25, 25-22, 25-18.

Libertyville is now 5-0 in NSC action and a sparkling 26-1 overall. The Wildcats' only loss this season is to Barrington, back around Spring Break.

"Every team we play plays their best game of the season, Stevenson did, I would say Mundelein did that tonight," senior outside hitter Drew Fortini said. "We'd love to go undefeated, but we've got to take it one game at a time and not overlook any team because you never know what's going to happen."

Fortini led Libertyville with 11 kills and got some great looks because the Mundelein defense was often preoccupied with big middle hitter Shane Feiereisel. The 6-foot-6 senior had 10 kills and 3 blocks and had a great chemistry on quick sets with setter Ryan Hirschel, who finished with 31 assists.

"We work on that a lot in practice, establishing that connection and our setter is just a really talented setter," Feiereisel said of the quick sets. "It was working today."

Mundelein coach George Dressen thought Libertyville's play in the middle was almost impossible to neutralize.

"The big middle was tough," Dressen said of Feiereisel. "We just don't have the height to match up with him. He just has such a large reach that even their quick balls are difficult."

Libertyville also got 6 kills from Brendan Cook and 5 kills from Mark Demaree. Sam Kharasch led in digs with 29.

After a rough first set in which errors were a factor, Libertyville went on long scoring runs in each of the next two sets to build leads that forced Mundelein to call timeouts to regroup.

"Because of our record, we have a target on our back and we're going to see a lot of teams play their best volleyball," Libertyville coach Jenny Smith said. "Mundelein was no exception. Their hitters played great and that was probably some of the best defense we've seen (an opponent play). That's why we were having a hard time putting away balls, especially early.

"But we responded well. We were intense and got the job done. I'm really happy with our fight and passion."

The Mustangs (13-15, 1-4 NSC) showed passion too, even in their two losses. They did not go down easy, keeping Libertyville on its toes with a balanced offensive attack.

Abram Nazario had 10 kills for Mundelein while Marc Rey had 9 kills, Linden Ewing had 7 kills and Martin Carrillo had 5 kills. Setter Steven Miritello had 24 assists and Ben Arebalo had 18 digs.