Vernon Hills meets Libertyville's challenge

Libertyville's boys volleyball team nearly pulled off the upset Wednesday night - and against its District 128 rival, no less.

Vernon Hills survived a scare to beat Libertyville 25-20, 19-25, 25-23 to improve to 17-1 overall and 4-0 in the North Suburban Conference.

"Libertyville blocked the heck out of us, and we did not react well to it," Cougars coach Chris Curry said. "We got timid and made poor decisions. In the end, though, we got enough late blocking and served just a little tougher and slipped out with a win in a match where we were completely outplayed."

Thomas Robinson and Mike Robinson slammed 8 and 7 kills, respectively, for Vernon Hills, while Pat Stone added 6 kills and 5 blocks.

David Swanson led the Cougars with 15 digs, and Spencer Raak had 14. Justin Opitz set 88 of 89 with 27 assists.

Libertyville (5-13, 1-3) received a match-best 9 kills from Matt Tassler and seven apiece from Eric Handrich and Andrew Bitta. Max Kornfeld was 67-of-67 setting with 23 assists. The Wildcats got 4 blocks apiece from Bryan Bonamarte and Handrich.

Mundelein d. North Chicago: Patrick Lentz had 8 kills and 2 blocks for the Mustangs in their 25-2, 25-14 win.

Mundelein (18-1, 6-0 North Suburban) received 4 aces apiece from Parker Tortorello and Joey Timmerman. Timmerman also set 31 of 31 with 20 assists.

Stevenson d. Lake Zurich: John Baader pounded 7 kills, as the Patriots won 25-19, 25-12 in a North Suburban Conference match.

Stevenson (13-7, 3-1) received 3 kills apiece from Nik Antonijevic, Danny Gescheidle and Bryan Kim.

Lake Zurich (1-10, 1-3) was led by Chris Carmody's 4 kills and Dalton Grambo's three.