Stevenson knocks out Lake Zurich
Stevenson's “superfans” wore their green capes and painted their faces to cheer on their girls volleyball team.
The Patriots' effort was super, man.
Stevenson beat Lake Zurich 25-23, 25-14 to win the Class 4A Warren sectional and advance to the Barrington supersectional.
For Stevenson (31-8), it was its first sectional championship in nine years. The Patriots will meet Cary-Grove (39-0) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“It's like a dream come true for us,” said senior Rachel Baader, who led the Patriots with 10 kills. “We worked so hard this season to see this happen.”
Stevenson also beat Laker Zurich in the teams' North Suburban Lake Division match.
“We knew that we just had to play our game in order to win,” Patriots coach Tim Crow said. “Our passing and defense were unbelievable. Everybody, across the board, played great.
“I think we missed five serves in the first game and we were able to pull out the win, and that says a lot about our team.”
Lake Zurich finished at 26-8 and will return 10 letter winners.
“In both games we just didn't play well,” Lake Zurich coach Matt Aiello said. “We never found our rhythm and we were inconsistent with our passing. We made a lot of unforced errors, and that's what cost us. If we had pulled out the first game, we might have had a shot.”
In the first game, the two teams were slugging it out with long rallies and waiting for the other team to make mistakes.
The Patriots prevailed on setter Jenna Przybyla's kill.
In the second game, Stevenson cruised to a 9-3 lead and never looked back.
The Patriots got 4 kills apiece from Shannon Mullins and Carlee Berland. Przybyla finished 26-of-26 setting with 14 assists.
“Jenna did a great job setting us up all night,” Mullins said. “In the first game, we never gave up.”
Stevenson's Mackenzie Kurth served 11 of 11 with 2 aces, and Carolyn McDonough was 10-of-12 serving with 4 aces. Nicole Duszczyk led the Patriot defense with 13 digs, and Kurth finished with 11.
For Lake Zurich, Junior Natalie Gora slammed 7 kills, served 10 of 10 with an ace and posted 12 digs. Amanda Orchard finished with 6 kills. “I was proud that nobody gave up,” Orchard said. “I am disappointed with the loss, but I feel good that we had a good season.”