Girls volleyball: Crosstown classic goes to Hersey in three sets

The crosstown showdown to open the 2017 girls volleyball season on Monday night was quite the show.

Visiting Hersey and St. Viator played three thrilling sets before the visiting Huskies prevailed 21-25, 25-16, 25-23 before a loud Cahill Gymnasium crowd in Arlington Heights.

The decisive set was tied from 14-14 to 17-17 before Hersey gained the lead for good on a kill from sophomore Kati Kaburov.

A hitting error by the hosts followed by senior Amy Morgan's kill gave Hersey a 20-17 advantage, the biggest it would own until the Huskies put it away on a service error.

Morgan and Kaburov each put down 10 kills to lead the defending Mid-Suburban East champs while senior Catherine Hickey paced the Lions with a match-high 14 kills, including a big one which got her team to within 24-23 in the final set.

"Amy (Morgan) played a heck of a match," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill. "She played out of her head. And Kati (Kaburov) was ripping the ball like crazy and they were digging her. She found a way, though, and she was getting some kills out of the back row as well."

Morgan's first 6 hitting attempts all went for kills and she finished 16-of-16 on attack.

"I am so proud of my team," Morgan said. "We really had a lot of confidence. We were just happy to be out here on the court and excited to have some competition other than ourselves for the last two weeks."

And they got plenty of competition in Game 1 when the Lions raced to a 10-4 lead following 6 straight service points by senior setter Michaela Mueller (match-high 8 aces).

"We knew right away after we lost the first game that we were going to three games," Morgan said. "That's the mentality we had out there and that's why we won."

The Huskies won Game 2 in handy fashion as they opened up a 19-9 lead, taking advantage of three straight hitting errors by Viator for points 13 to 16 (and a 16-7 lead).

Morgan's kill made it 18-8 and the Huskies never let Viator closer than 5 points the rest of the set.

Mueller had another big service run in Set 3 to get the Lions rolling.

The game was tied at 3-3 when she connected for 3 straight aces for a 6-3 cushion.

"We preach serving very aggressive but inbounds, and Michaela was able to serve the court both short and long and got us in back into sets a couple of times," said St. Viator coach Charlie Curtin, who was a junior and senior defensive specialist when he played for Lill's boys volleyball teams at Hersey.

The Lions extended the Game 3 advantage to 10-4 on an ace by Hickey.

"Catherine is obviously our go-to girl," Curtin said. "She can put the ball down pretty much from any position on the floor."

A time out by Hersey coach Nancy Lill got the Huskies back on track.

Kaburov fired an ace and then put down 2 kills to get the Huskies back to 10-7.

Trailing 14-12, an ace by Morgan and hitting error by Viator tied the game at 14-14.

"We knew it would be a tough match," Lill said. "We played St. Viator in the summer league. We lost the first game and then beat them in three. They are a strong team. They serve very aggressively, have a nice block and a nice libero (Carrie Leazer). They are a solid team this year."

Kendall Claffey added 6 kills for the Lions followed by Kate Nottoli (3), Mueller (3) and Rina Rodriguez (2). Mueller also handed out 16 assists while Nottoli led in blocks with 4.

Hickey was also tops in digs for Viator with 13, followed by Leazer (11) and Kaylee Liberty (6).

"It was fun, " Curtin said. "We have a lot of respect for Hersey so we were looking forward to opening the season with them,"

The two teams opened on Hersey's floor last year when the Huskies won in two games.

"We played much better than last year," Curtin said. "Going out to that lead in the third set made us pretty confident and then we let them go on that little run. We thought we were going to get it. We played really well at times, then struggled with mental errors every once in a while. I respect Nancy a lot. It's fun to see what she is going to bring. She always has talented teams and it's fun to compete with them."

Lill's attack also received 4 kills junior Alessia Olhava while senior Emma Strozewski set the offense with 21 assists. The defense was led by libero Julia Coniglio's 19 digs, followed by Olhava (10), Strozewski (9), Morgan (8) and Kaburov (7).

Kaburov came up with the defensive gem of the night when she went deep behind the back line to somehow keep up a Lion attack which led to Morgan's kill for a 20-17 lead in Game 3.

"The hustle was great," Lill said. "You look at that save Katie made back there, that was phenomenal."

Lill said the Huskies' serve receive was not at the top of its game.

"But I give credit to St. Viator because they served tough," Lill said. "They challenged us back there. And part if it was first-match nerves."