Huskies break out

A break in the action could have been a bad break for Hersey's momentum in Wednesday night's 36th annual Mid-Suburban League girls volleyball championship match.

But after breaking away from Conant with 7 of the final 8 points in the first game, the Huskies broke out with 7 of the first 8 points in the second game and claimed their seventh MSL title 25-16, 25-17 over Conant at Ken Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

"After the first game and closing it out as we did," said Hersey senior setter and MSL East Player of the Year Shelly Mueller, "coming out strong in the second game gave us more momentum to keep going."

Hersey (25-5) wasn't lacking for motivation after losing in the last two MSL title matches and having its season ended by Conant (23-6) in last year's Class 4A regional final.

"The kids wanted this in a bad way," Nancy Lill said after her sixth title as Hersey's coach.

"It feels really good - the past two years have been kind of disappointing," said Mueller, who was 56-for-57 setting with 24 assists. "We had a lot of confidence coming into tonight. It was kind of a vengeance game, too."

Senior Ann Carroll played with a vengeance as she took over the middle as Hersey took control of the match.

Carroll's kill started the decisive Game 1 burst and she started the Game 2 with 3 consecutive kills.

"Ann played great," Mueller said.

"It was a great night," said Carroll, who had 8 kills and 2 blocks. "Tonight I really wanted to dominate because this is our house. Shelly did a great job of giving me good sets.

"What's nice about this year's team is it's really a well-rounded team. That puts pressure on the other team."

Lill's junior daughter Katie also had 8 kills and McKenzie Forbes and Jamie Welter had 4 kills apiece for the Huskies. Becca Haraf and Jenni Mueller had 12 and 11 digs respectively.

"The kids executed my game plan to a 'T' and that was the difference," Nancy Lill said. "That makes the game easier when you make an opponent work."

Conant took a 10-7 lead in Game 1 on 1 of 6 kills by senior Katherine Hozian, who shared MSL West Player of the Year honors with Fremd's Stephanie Alesia.

"I thought we were communicating well and started off strong," said Conant senior libero Lynette Mueller. "When they started scoring points we started not playing as well and we should have kept talking."

Hersey led 20-10 in Game 2, but a nice block by Kristin Perschon after a long point started a Conant rally within 22-17 on Tricia Kutrumanes' kill.

Carroll then killed Conant's momentum as Hersey scored the final 3 points.

"We know down the stretch in big championship matches we need to pass and block better," said Conant coach Peggy Scholten. "We didn't execute fundamentally on passing or serve receive."

But joining the 1997 team as the only ones in Conant history to reach the MSL championship match figures to pay off with regionals starting next Thursday.

"It was a great experience for the girls and they deserved to be here," Scholten said.

"Playing a strong team like that really helps us," Mueller said. "We wanted to make history and that's what we did."

Hersey did what it wanted with its first title since Shelly Mueller was a freshman on the varsity in 2005.

"It's been a long road to get here and a lot of work," Carroll said. "I think the team really stepped up tonight."