O'Brien, Libertyville thrive at Hersey

Greg Loika is a social worker at Libertyville High School, so he knows about helping others.

He also has a setter on his varsity girls volleyball team who knows how to help others.

Talented sophomore Peyton O'Brien handed out a match-high 15 kills to ignite the Wildcats' offense in a 25-20, 25-20 nonconference win on the court of 15-time defending Mid-Suburban East champion Hersey.

"Peyton is wise beyond her years," said Loika, whose team evened its record at 4-4. "She did a great job distributing the ball and our middles did a great job."

Middle Cassidy Jones had 3 blocks and 2 kills while middle Amanda Reinhart collected 2 blocks and 3 kills.

"Running the middles was a big part," said O'Brien, who plays for Sky High in the off season and has been a two-year starter at Libertyville. "That gave us a ton of energy. The key was just having that energy and trust in our team, which is really a big part of what we've been working on so far this season."

It all came together at the Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights as the Wildcats put together their finest match so far this fall.

"We played a complete match for probably the first time of this young season," Loika said. "We are always work in progress throughout the season and I don't know that it was Hersey's best match, either.

"We played a crisp game where we tried to minimize our errors, and our block did a great job which hasn't always been the case consistently on match day this season."

Kellie Hopper, another sophomore for the Wildcats, placed some nice balls on the floor to register a team-high 7 kills along with 8 digs while classmate Ella Schaffnit produced 4 kills, 7 digs and 2 blocks. The back row was led by Jenn Formica (14 digs 1 ace).

"At the end, Hersey was really swinging hard at us and I thought our block was disciplined," Loika added. "That hasn't always been the case. When the blocked balls went down, it really energized our offense, which was awesome."

Three service points from O'Brien, including an ace, gave the visitors a 9-3 lead in Game 1.

The advantage increased to 17-10 on a kill by Schaffnit.

Hersey rallied to within 20-17 but the Wildcats dug in and got back-to-back blocks from Jones and Schaffnit to take a 24-17 lead before wrapping up the set moments later.

In Game 2, Alyssa Sorensen served the Wildcats to a 3-0 lead but Hersey rallied and went ahead 8-5 with 4 straight service points from Maddie Mullin.

The Huskies got their biggest lead at 13-9 on a crafty second attack by Kaiya Eshoo (7 assists).

A block by Kate Lubbe put Hersey on top 17-15. And the two teams were separated by only 1 point after that until Libertyville edged ahead 21-19.

A block by Hope Moody (2 kills) made it 22-19. Reinhart's block gave Libertyville a 24-20 lead and a tip by Schaffnit ended the match,

"It was just a very rough match for us," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill, whose team (1-1) was playing its second match of the season and first in a week. "We were flat start to finish.

"Even in Game 2 when we had an opportunity to take charge, and we didn't, we made errors. We had a lot of unforced errors. It's an early season match. The team is talented but we need to get it together."

Junior Kati Kaburov led the Huskies' attack with 10 kills while senior Alessia Olhava added 3 and Juliette Van Den Herik 2. Olhava also had 6 assists, 2 aces and a team-high 9 digs. Lubbe had 2 blocks and Janine Boyan 1.

"It just wasn't a good match for us," Lill added. "We hadn't played in a week and we just didn't have a good outing. I give Libertyville all the credit. They played great defense. They played consistency. They swung hard and they were the aggressor."

"We were out of system the whole match. We couldn't establish the middles. We were very predictable. Defensively, they outplayed us. I'd say they outplayed us in just about every aspect of the game."

Loika was especially pleased with the Wildcats' passing.

"I think our passers did an excellent job putting us in a position to be successful," he said.

"For sure it was our biggest win so far," O'Brien said. "We lost to them at home (three sets) in this match last year so to be able to come back and win here is really nice."