Big win for Prospect
Prospect's girls volleyball team has played the smallest amount of matches of any Mid-Suburban League team.
But the Knights have the biggest win.
Senior middle hitters Hillary Trebels (11 kills) and Megan Murray (10) had career nights as Prospect stunned the Daily Herald's No. 5 team Hersey 19-25, 25-19, 25-20 at the Ken Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights on Tuesday night.
"I can't remember the last time we beat Hersey," said the Virginia-bound Trebels, who also had 4 blocks. "This is so exciting. We've been working so hard and this shows how it all pays off."
The Knights (3-2, 3-0) have had plenty of time to practice with only five matches this fall.
Tuesday's come-from-behind win gave Prospect sole possession of first place in the MSL East.
Hersey (7-3, 2-1), which used a 6-0 run to break a 10-10 tie in Game 1, was led by Lauren Dembkowski (12 kills) and McKenzie Forbes (9).
The Knights broke an 18-18 tie in Game 2 when Kathleen Hudson served for 5 straight points. Hudson collected 2 of her 8 aces during the run while Murray had a kill.
Prospect won it on an ace by Jackie Canonaco and a block by Rachel Hunt. Teammate Tracy Heffernan added 3 blocks.
"This was awesome," Murray said. "I think we were able to get in their minds. This was the best match we have ever played. We passed well, we worked well as a team and we went with it."
Trebels' block gave Prospect a 9-3 lead in Game 3 but Hersey battled back to within 14-10.
Hudson went to work again at the service line and reeled off 2 more aces to help the Knights grab a 19-11 lead.
Hersey never got closer than 21-17. Trebels' block and kill gave Prospect its final 2 points.
"A lot of credit has to go to our passers (Hunt, Hudson, Lindsay Valentino and Mary Kate Ward led the way)," Trebels added. "When they get the ball up, we're able to run our offense. Jackie (Canonaco) did a good job distributing it to everyone."
The senior setter finished with 19 assists from 74 sets.
"I could not be happier," said Knights coach Mike Riedy. "Even if we had lost, I would have still been happy.
"We came in with a game plan. We had a list of four things we wanted to do, and we executed on all of them."
One of objectives was to use serving as a weapon. The Knights obliged with 8 aces from Hudson, three from Ward and one from Valentino.
"They served us off the floor," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill, who received 5 aces from Becca Haraf and two from Annie Schey. "Our serve receive just broke down.
"Prospect played an outstanding match. Hats off to them. They blocked well, and picked everything up. It was a serve-receive game but they pulled it together better than us. We had a lot of mental errors and lack of communication."
After the match, Riedy informed his players they were in trouble.
"I told them this shows me what they're capable of," he said. "Anything less, and I will have to get on them good."
They sure were good Tuesday night.