Hawks roll to title; Chargers finish 3rd
Four matches, no scratches.
The Bartlett girls volleyball team earned the championship at its own tournament by cruising through 3 pool play wins and the title-match victory over Shepard without dropping a game on Saturday.
The Hawks improved to 8-3-1 this season with their 25-12, 25-17 victory over Shepard (6-2).
Bartlett junior Carly Sahagian was unstoppable with 15 kills in the title match alone, but she gave much of the credit to junior setter Alyssa Cazzato, who put the ball in Sahagian's wheelhouse time after time for wicked spikes.
"Alyssa set money all day," Sahagian said.
Cazzato appreciated the props from her big hitter, but likewise deflected the credit.
"The passers did amazing," Cazzato said. "It was by far the best tournament we've had. Everybody just worked as a team today. It was really a good day."
Senior Emily Hayes, whose booming kill clinched Game 1 against Shepard, sophomore right side Jacki Gulczynski and senior middle Jamie Pytel all enjoyed productive afternoons, thanks to the passing of sophomore libero Kelly Kraft and the rest of the Bartlett defense.
The Hawks knifed through pool play against Thornwood, Belvidere North and Dundee-Crown without giving up more than 12 points in any game, a big improvement over last season when Bartlett's varsity finished lower in the tournament than the school's junior varsity, which competes annually in the invite.
"I thought we had a good chance to win it," Bartlett first-year coach Brandon Mueller said. "What I wanted was good passing, good ball control and for the most part we passed really well the whole day, better than we have all year. We were able to run pretty much anthying we wanted."
Dundee-Crown (6-2) went 2-1 in pool play. losing only to Bartlett 25-12, 25-10. The Chargers finished third in the tournament after sweating out a 3-game victory over Bartlett's JV squad, 25-14, 23-25, 15-10.
"We had one bad match today, otherwise I thought we played consistent volleyball," D-C coach Tracy Williams said. "The one bad match just happened to be the one that really mattered, but I'm pretty happy."
After the Bartlett JV won Game 2, D-C refocused in Game 3 with 2 early kills from junior right side Alyssa Sarrazine. A tip kill by senior Tori Scarpelli gave the Chargers a 9-5 advantage en route to the win.
Larkin (3-4) beat West Chicago and Shepard in pool play before losing a tight match to Bartlett's JV team in 3 games. The Royals played for fifth place short-handed because libero Claire Sherman and middles Natalie and Stacie Beaver had to leave early to attend a wedding.
Larkin put up a good fight without three starters, but Belvidere North won the fifth-place match 25-22, 19-25, 15-11.
"We almost had it," Larkin senior setter Liza Smithberger said. "We had them in the second game and just lost it a little in the third."