Girls volleyball: Hersey fourth at Maine West Pumpkin Tournament
Hersey's girls volleyball team saw some of the toughest competition it has seen all season on Saturday.
And that was just fine with Huskies coach Nancy Lill, a winner of 1,002 matches after her team won twice on Friday and once on Saturday at the Maine West Pumpkin Tournament in Des Plaines.
The Huskies' losses were to Sandburg (29-5) in the semifinal of the 16-team tourney and to Lockport (23-10) in the third-place match.
Sandburg defeated Carmel 25-20, 25-23 for the title.
"It was great for our team to play some very strong competition," said Lill, whose team (24-5) will meet Fremd on Wednesday for the Mid-Suburban League championship in Palatine. "This will help us to prepare for the postseason."
Lockport outlasted Hersey 25-23, 21-25 25-23 for third place.
"That match was close and hard fought and we just ran out of gas at the end," Lill said.
Top attackers for Hersey were Kati Kaburov (50 kills, 34 digs), Nora Zielke (26 kills, 30 digs), Juliette van den Herik (18 kills 9 blocks), Janine Boyan (15 kills, 14 blocks) and Kate Lubbe (13 kills, 7 blocks), 4 assists
Maddie Mullin collected 62 digs while Kaiya Eshoo handed out 104 assists with 11 kills and 42 digs.
Palatine (21-12) went 4-1 in the tourney as Emily Campe (37 kills), Karina Szafraniec (30 kills), Sarah Elischer (30 kills) and Jillian Smith (16 kills) led the Pirates' attack set by Allison Drake (122 assists).
Top servers were Campe (10 aces), Szafraniec (7) and Sydney Wiebe (6) while Elischer led with 18 blocks. Smith collected a team-best 39 digs.
Prospect (19-11) went 2-3 in the tourney and was led on attack by Grace Cacini (39 kills), Jenna Acosta (19) and Ellen Sherwood (18). Sarah Skaggs handed out 95 assists while Mia Farraday collected 58 digs.
Conant went 2-3 in the tourney, picking up two-set wins against Jefferson and Riverside-Brookfield.
Elgin Tourney: Leyden went 3-2 to take third place. Kinga Nowacyk (18 kills, 2 aces), Jocelyn Escamilla (73 assists, 16 aces, 14 kills), Jasmin Nevarez (13 kills, 4 aces), Summer Mohammad (24 kills, 3 aces) and Elle Engelke (13 kills) led the Eagles.
Grayslake North Invite: Fremd (26-3) went 4-1 and took third place with a victory over Woodstock. Deerfield defeated the host school for the title.
College
Harper wins twice: Harper College defeated the Lincoln College junior varsity 25-11, 25-13, 25-22 and Illinois Valley 23-25, 25-14, 25-23, 22-25, 15-7. Rugile Jaciunas had 10 kills and Taylor Pfaller collected 26 assists against Lincoln while Natalie Asa (12 kills), Rachel Kandefer (12) and Jaciunas (11) led the attack vs. Illinois Valley as Pfaller collected 41 assists.