Libertyville celebrates Prospect title
It was 28 years ago when former Prospect girls volleyball coach Sandy Pifer began the Prospect Invite.
Current Knights coach Mike Riedy plans to have a little pomp and circumstance for the tourney in two years when it celebrates its 30th renewal.
Libertyville has celebrated quite a few titles in the invite, and Saturday was another as the Wildcats went 5-0 to win the crown over second-place Prospect (4-1).
The Knights and third-place finisher Palatine gave the Wildcats their toughest tests Saturday.
In a breakfast special (9 a.m.) match, Libertyville pulled out a 23-25, 25-20, 15-10 triumph over the Knights, then came back later to top Palatine 25-11, 21-25, 15-11.
"Those were tough matches," said coach Greg Loika, who watched his team improve to 11-4 after a tough three-game loss to conference rival Lake Zurich the night before. "The Prospect match was real tough. It could have gone either way.
"And Palatine had a really great middle blocker (6-foot-2 senior Hannah Guth, a Seton Hall recruit). She was really active in games 2 and 3. When they got her the ball, that was pretty hard to defend."
The Wildcats, who have won nine of their last 10 matches, are difficult to defend, too.
All-tourney selections Catie Steffen (29 kills) and Alanna Connors (21 kills) helped pace the Wildcats' attack along with Megan Friedman (21 kills) and Paige Hopper (22 kills).
They took their cues from freshman Cindy Zhou (108-110, 52 assists) and junior Kaca Savatic (142-146, 44 assists).
"Cindy was incredibly proficient handing out those 52 assist," said Loika, who also received 70 digs from freshman libero Kristen Webb. "Both our setters did a great job getting te ball to our go-to players, and Catie (Steffen) ws huge. Kristin (Webb) was all over the place on defense."
The Wildcats also blocked at the net led by Mackenzie Haws (4 blocks, 10 kills) and Leah Kruckman (4 kills, 7 blocks).
Riedy's Knights (12-6), who headed to Evanston on Saturday night to watch Northwestern volleyball, were led on attack by all-tourney selections Rachel Hunt (36 (kills) and Sarah Hunt (20 (kills). Sam Mangrum added 13 and Mariel Sobey 8 for the Knights, whose offense was set by Danielle Siwik (50 assists) and Abby Homuth (32 assists).
Libero Maureen O'Keefe collected 21 digs and was 21-of-22 serving with 2 aces before being sidelined with an ankle injury in the Knights' fourth match.
"We could have played better," O'Keefe said about the tourney. "First place would have been nice. We were aiming for that, but we had that tough loss to Libertyville."
"Libertyville just outplayed us in the second and third games," Riedy added. "We had little shutdowns and they took advantage. But we rebounded and overall played good volleyball.
"At the end of last week, I was worried that we might become stagnant and show no more improvement, but this invite showed me that we are improving and progressing with individual skills as well."
Guth, selected to the all-tourney team along with setter Jenny Solberg (47 assists, 6 aces, 3 blocks) led Palatine's attack with 26 kills and 14 blocks, followed by Rachel Houp (16 kills), Amanda Hilmer (11 kills) and Allison Richter (9 kills, 5 blocks).
"We just need to be more focused and consistent," Guth said. "We did have a lot of people step up in different positions and play well which was good."
The Pirates now stand at 8-8.
"I thought our match against Libertyville was our best all day," said Pirates coach Dan Gavin. "It was really the only time we consistently competed all the way through.
"We're struggling to get the girls to focus. When we get them to do what is necessary, I truly believe we can compete with anyone around."
Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski liked his team's effort against Palatine and Libertyville.
The Wildcats (2-3 in the tourney and 6-12 overall) rallied for an 8-25, 25-16, 15-12 triumph over Palatine.
"We showed a lot of heart in that match," Kopkowski said. "And against Libertyville, a great defensive team, I thought our effort was much improved considering the roller-coaster season we're having."
The Wildcats attack was led by Bianca Szafarowicz (19 kills) Kayla Jordan (17), Kellie Kuzmanic (16), Lauren Addis (11) and Stephanie Kuzmanic (11) while Stephanie Fuchs handed out 41 assists and junior Sejal Shah had 16.
Shah and classmate Sarah Hennessy (outside hitter who recorded 10 digs, 3 aces and a kill) are call-ups from the junior varsity. "They did a great job for us," Kopkowski added.
Harlem Invite: Rolling Meadows took third place with a 3-2 record as Kelly Adair led the attack with 29 kills, followed by Samantha Rosinski (26), Jackie Rosinski (26) and Veronica Dobrowski (10). Adair and Rosinski each served 6 aces while Alyssa Arwady had 5 along with 22 digs. Emily Nelms collected 63 assists and Rene Pollinetz 14.