Steffen, Libertyville keep on winning
Three years ago while living in Florida, Libertyville senior Catie Steffen was a freshman middle hitter for the Winter Springs High School varsity girls volleyball team.
Over the last three seasons here in Illinois, she has spent her time as an outside hitter for Libertyville's varsity squad.
"One difference in Florida is that they played the best of five games," Steffen said.
One thing that has stayed the same for Steffen in her Illinois volleyball playing days is winning the Prospect Invite.
She and her Wildcat teammates did it for the third straight year as Steffen put down a team-high 42 kills.
Libertyville (15-0) went 5-0 in the 29th edition of the six-team invite.
"We just wanted to come here with a lot of energy and play up to our level," Steffen said. "We wanted to keep our record where it was (no losses)."
The Wildcats were impressive, winning all their matches in two games including a 25-15, 25-19 victory over runner-up Wheeling (4-1).
"That's a nice team," said Libertyville coach Greg Loika of Wheeling. "They're scrappy on defense and their middles are fast.
"Palatine gave us our biggest challenge (25-19, 25-23). They had a huge lead in Game 2. It was a pretty good test of our emotional fortitude to come back."
Steffen also added 20 digs and 8 aces for the tourney.
Sophomore setter Cindy Zhou collected 77 assists, 16 kills and 5 blocks while her classmate Kristen Webb (libero) made 65 digs and served 4 aces.
Zhou and Webb were all-tourney selections.
"Kristen Webb was fantastic," said Loika, a second-year coach who is now 2-for-2 in the Prospect Invite. "I was really happy with her play."
The only thing Loika was disappointed about Saturday was his team's serving.
"I think we probably missed more serves today than we have all season," he said. "But this was our first tournament of the season. We'll make adjustments."
Other key performers for the Wildcats Saturday were junior middle Kerry Risley (6 kills, 5 blocks), sophomore middle-rightside Taylor Zant (8 kills, 2 blocks), junior middle Katie Waehner (7 kills), senior setter Katarina Savatic (15 assists), senior setter Olivia Wilcox (6 assists) and Ryan Cummins (28 kills, 14 digs and 4 aces).
Cummins, a senior outside hitter, was filling for senior Paige Hopper (ankle).
"Ryan had a pretty good tournament," Loika added. "Overall, I'm pretty happy. We played a lot of second-string girls in this tournament and sometimes there is a drop-off when you do that. But we didn't miss a beat."
The beat - 15 in a row - goes on for the Wildcats.