St. Viator maintains winning attitude
St. Viator girls volleyball coach Charlie Curtin may have his team coming off a school-record 29-win campaign, but that doesn't mean the 2010 Lions don't have that same winning attitude.
With an impressive 25-13, 25-16 victory over Resurrection Wednesday night at the Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights, the Lions will take a 7-1 overall record into their East Suburban Catholic Conference opener next Tuesday at Benet.
The Lions established authority in both games Wednesday against the Bandits (5-3), who were an impressive 4-1 at last weekend's Early Bird Classic hosted by Fremd and Conant.
St. Viator darted ahead 19-8 in Game 1 with a couple of service points from junior Lauren Falotico and a kill by senior Julie Sweeney (team-high 6 kills).
The hosts gained control in Game 2 when senior Emily Leazer rifled 3 straight aces for a 14-8 lead.
"Emily's serving was very powerful," Curtin said after watching the 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter put down a season-high 7 aces.
"I love serving," said the three-year varsity performer. "The serve starts the play so with a good one, it can give you momentum for that play and can help carry the team.
"This win gives us a lot of confidence for conference. We lost to them (Resurrection) in a close match (late last season in Chicago) so it was nice to win this time."
It was Leazer's blazing serve again which helped the Lions wrap up the match as she accounted for points 23 and 24 with aces, followed by a hitting error by the Bandits to end the match.
Leazer and setter Carlyn Clevenger, also a three-year varsity performer, are two key members back from the 2009 team which brought the Lions their second straight regional crown in school history and first appearance in a sectional final.
"We'd love three straight (regionals)," said Clevenger, who handed out 26 assists to an offense led by Sweeney, Leazer (5 kills), junior Rachel Horvath (5), sophomore Janelle Stilling (4) and Falotico (4). "It helps when you have a lot of hitters to go to. I try to mix it up.
"We're just trying to keep up our energy so we can keep winning. We want to help our younger players so they can see what's it like to play varsity volleyball and this a great start. It really helps the program."
Leazer's serve did not go unnoticed by Bandits coach Anita Merk.
"She has a nice jump serve with that topspin," Merk said. "She is an aggressive player with a nice serve.
"I thought our defense broke down. And our offense never really got going. But I thought our libero (junior Molly Powers) did a great job."
The Lions' defense got the job done, led by Lauren Bunda (8 digs), Leazer (7), Samantha Wallenberg (6), Horvath (4), Clevenger (3) and Martha McAvoy (3).
"We have a lot of girls back from last season who stepped up and matured real well in the off-season," Curtin said. "They have really been great to the younger girls teaching them the ropes."
Lake Park d. Conant: Lake Park stopped the host Cougars 26-24, 25-21 in the nonconference match as Samantha Armando (4 kills), Carissa Coop (4 kills), Chelsea Vanicek (3 kills) and Jennifer Donnell (3 kills) led the attack for Conant (3-7).
Setter Kaitlin Chiero collected 12 assists while Kelly Anderson and Rachael Yordon each had 11 digs.
Girls GolfBarrington wins tri-meet: Coach Jodi Schoeck's Fillies scored 175 to defeat Hersey (213) and Rolling Meadows (272) at Makray Memorial Course in Barrington.The top two individuals were Barrington's Kelly Muskat (38) and Hersey's Megan Rogowski (42), a pair of seniors who were both qualifiers in the IHSA 3-Point Showdown last March at Illinois State.Muskat's 38 was her best nine holes at Makray."I had a great time competing with Megan," Muskat said. "Megan played great. We were tied after seven holes."Muskat made a couple of key pars down the stretch to finish with her 38 as the Fillies remained undefeated in conference play. "Makray is a tough golf course," Muskat added. "You can find trouble on every hole. It was really my short game that saved me today with a lot of good sand shots. The wind was still blowing pretty hard and that made conditions difficult."Casey Hahn shot a 45 for the Fillies, followed by Sammy Carman (45) and Laura Palarz (47).