Lake County girls volleyball roundup
Libertyville's girls volleyball team got a good test Saturday.
And, for the first time this season, the Wildcats also got a loss.
Lyons defeated Libertyville 25-19, 26-24 to capture the championship of Glenbrook North's Discovery Tournament.
Libertyville's record stands at 26-1 after going 4-1 in the tourney. The Wildcats topped Nazareth 25-18, 25-14 in their first match Saturday.
“I was generally pleased with our play against (Lyons') front-line hitters, Libertyville coach Greg Loika said. “Aside from an 8-point service run for them in set No. 1, both games went point for point. Lyons is a strong team with solid blockers and attackers, so I felt like it was a good measuring stick to see how we compare to top teams in the state.
“And aside from some mental and physical errors in the match, we were right there. Passing troubles made our offense more predictable than we like to be so there is certainly some good teaching points and things to correct after this kind of match.
Libertyville's Cindy Zhou and Kristen Webb were voted to the all-tournament team. Zhou had 57 assists, 11 kills, 4 blocks and 3 aces. Webb rang up 58 digs and 5 aces.
Catie Steffen and Paige Hopper had 32 and 25 kills, respectively, for Libertyville. The Wildcats' other contributors included Hannah Saia (28 digs, 5 aces), Kerry Risley (14 kills, 12 blocks), Taylor Zant (7 kills, 4 blocks) and Katie Waehner (7 kills, 7 blocks).
At Grayslake North: Fremd won the championship, with the host Knights finishing second in a never-say-die effort that pleased coach Nikki Kirchway.#8220;The girls played the best volleyball in our whole season, Nikki Kirchway said. #8220;I am very proud of our team.Grayslake North (10-21, 3-2 tourney) opened with a 25-19, 25-22 loss to Fremd, before beating Woodstock 25-6, 26-24.Then came the Knights' comebacks. They rallied against both Warren and Mundelein, winning 18-25, 25-21, 16-14 and 11-25, 25-21, 25-23, respectively.Playing against Fremd again, Grayslake North fell 25-27, 25-11, 25-21.The Knights' Katie McGrath earned a spot on the all-tournament team after totaling 25 kills, 17 blocks, 40 digs and 5 aces. Grayslake North also git huge efforts from Felicia Stancil (18 kills, 9 aces, 22 digs, 5 blocks), Brianna Leon (25 kills, 18 digs, 5 blocks), Kelsey Klausner (17 kills, 4 blocks), Jenni Babula (13 kills, 4 blocks), Kaitlyn Woodward (44 assists on 151-of-155 setting) and Lauren Trahan (28 assists on 110-of-111 setting).Mundelein (13-13) went 3-2 in the tournament and finished fourth behind McHenry.Brittany Busscher and Karen Chin were named all-tournament. Busscher led the Mustangs with 29 kills and 9 aces on 41-of-45 serving. Chin set 234 of 236 with 69 assists and served 47 of 50 with 3 aces.