Lake Forest meets Lake Zurich’s challenge
Just two weeks ago, Lake Zurich wore down Lake Forest in a 3-set victory.
The Bears were hoping for a repeat performance on Tuesday night in the Buffalo Grove sectional semifinal, but No. 5 seed Lake Zurich couldn’t overcome top seed Lake Forest’s powerful attack of Mary Striedl and Tori Lanzillotti in a 25-15, 25-23 loss.
The Scouts seniors each put down 8 kills to lead Lake Forest into Thursday’s sectional final against Stevenson, which beat Hersey in the second match of the night.
“Lake Zurich is such a tough team and has been over the years,” said Lake Forest coach Ray Werner. “Coach Aiello does a great job getting their girls drilled and prepared. They broke us mentally the last time we played them.”
The Scouts sprinted to a 13-3 lead in the first set before the Bears even had a chance to get going. Lake Zurich rallied on the serve of Kiley McPeek but by then, it was too late.
“It was more about us,” said Lake Zurich coach Matt Aiello. “They put the ball in the court and we didn’t. We made things way too difficult for ourselves. We just didn’t find our rhythm and were a little sloppy with our passing. I don’t think we actually got to run our offense at any point.”
Down 19-8, Lake Zurich went on two short runs thanks to the blocking of Layne Self and the hitting of Amanda Orchard to gain some confidence for the second game.
“We realized in the first game that we needed to get the momentum back,” Orchard said. “Near the end of the first game, we took some momentum into the second game. We knew that this could be our last day together. We went through every point as a team and our effort was just great.”
The second game was tight the entire way with Lake Forest’s biggest lead at 18-13.
Orchard, who had 6 kills in the second game, tied the score at 20-20 to give the Bears a fighting chance.
“Lake Zurich does a wonderful job of forcing you to play disciplined,” Werner said. “They don’t make a lot of errors. So in those rotations when you don’t put the ball down, you’re going to have to play ball control and grind it out with them.”
Ultimately, it was Striedl and Lanzillotti who ended the careers of six Lake Zurich seniors.
“It was just one of those nights where we didn’t have it,” Aiello said. “We didn’t finish what we set out to do. But that’s OK, because we didn’t give up. As badly as we played, we still had a chance in Game 2. We won’t hang our heads.”