Libertyville stuns Barrington
Unlike the regional trophy that Libertyville’s volleyball players held aloft and flashed in front of parents’ cameras during an impromptu team picture on Mundelein’s court, what the Wildcats coveted just as much wasn’t tangible.
“They’ve played really well at times,” Libertyville coach Steve Rochon said of his players. “But that signature win has always eluded them.”
While cameras clicked, Wildcats libero Scott Cooper uttered a rhetorical question.
“How’s that for a signature win?” said Cooper, all smiles.
Led by a balanced offensive attack and a defense that Rochon said “was probably better than we’ve seen it in a long, long time,” Libertyville upset Barrington, the No. 2 seed in the Warren sectional, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22 Wednesday night.
Seventh-seeded Libertyville (23-15) will play No. 3 Stevenson (31-5) in Friday’s 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal at Warren. Libertyville lost to Stevenson in each of the teams’ three matches this season.
“We had 22 wins coming into this (regional final) and, honestly, I didn’t feel that we had beaten anybody of high quality,” Rochon said. “Barrington is a high quality team. They weren’t ranked second in this sectional for no reason.”
Barrington, which got a match-best 12 kills from senior Matt Logue, finished 28-8. The Broncos had beaten the Wildcats at Glenbrook North.
“Libertyville was unbelievable tonight,” Barrington coach Rob Ridenour said. “I thought they played great. Their blocking really affected us offensively, and their offense was fearless. They were just taking big swings at us.”
Matt Tassler paced Libertyville with 11 kills on 22-of-25 hitting. Eric Handrich (24 of 28) added 9 kills, while Bryan Bonamarte (9 of 10), Brandon Leatherwood (23 of 28) and Stefan Vidovich (13 of 16) added 6 kills apiece.
The five hitters gave Teddy Kopacz (89-of-90 setting, 32 assists) plenty of options.
“I’ve told people from the beginning that we have so many weapons to utilize,” Bonamarte said. “We’re just finally starting to get it all together. We have been practicing, but we really showed what we can do today.”
Libertyville spurted to a 7-1 lead in Game 3 and later led 18-12. After the Wildcats served long, Barrington rallied behind the play of Logue.
His third ace, perfectly placed to a back-row corner, and one of his kills helped the Broncos pull within 18-17.
“That’s all Matt right there,” Ridenour said. “He’s probably the toughest kid I’ve ever coached. He just went back there and got on a little jump-serve run. To be that mentally tough to do that in a regional final, your a senior, and your (team) is not playing well, is pretty incredible.”
“I was just trying to hit it as hard as I could,” Logue said. “Good things were happening.’
But Barrington never pulled even. Two Bonamarte kills sandwiched a kill by Logue, giving Libertyville the victory.
“They’re a really tough team,” Bonamarte said of the Broncos. “Every point we were up, we just wanted to keep getting more on top, more on top, because they can do something like they just did.”
The win means retiring coaches Rochon and longtime assistant Cindy Sullivan keep on going.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with us, because if that were the case they would have played great in the first part of May, when we announced this,” Rochon said of his players, laughing. “They’re a really talented team. We saw some things tonight that we’ve been preaching all year long. Tonight was sort of that perfect storm where it all came together.”
Tommy Leonard added 8 kills for Barrington. Austin Czarnecki had 24 digs, and Taylor Ganzer lofted 28 assists.
Libertyville got 16 digs apiece from Cooper and Handrich. Cooper served the Wildcats’ only ace.
“They just played better than us,” Logue. “We got down early in the third game and were able to make a run back, but we dug ourselves too deep of a hole, unfortunately.”