Girls volleyball: Loyola tops Hersey in 3 sets
Hersey's girls volleyball team had top-seeded Loyola on the ropes.
But the Ramblers managed to survive 4 match points in Set 2 and then delivered the knockout punch in Set 3 for a 19-25, 26-24, 25-18 victory in the semifinals of their own Class 4A sectional semifinal.
The Ramblers (29-8) will face No. 3 Fremd (31-7) in Wednesday's 6 p.m. title match.
No. 4 Hersey ends another stellar season with a record of 28-10 and a bright future ahead.
Loyola trailed 24-20 in Set 2 following a service point from senior Alessia Olhava. But the Ramblers got a kill from Lizzie Walker, who then reeled off 5 service straight points for the dramatic comeback.
In the decisive set, Hersey fell behind 4-0 but came back and led 10-7 on ace and kill by junior Kati Kaburov.
Hersey led 15-13 before a big side out kill from Oregon State-bound Mary Kate Lopez of Mt. Prospect.
Walker then served 5 straight points (19-15 lead) to give the girls from Wilmette the surge they needed to finish.
"We gave it everything we had in Set 3," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill. "It's tough when you were on the verge of winning the match and then lose it on unforced errors. But we still showed character and fight in the third set."
Kaburov showed her usual power with a team-best 13 kills followed by Olhava, who had 7 kills with 15 digs.
"Alessia played her heart out," Lill said. "She is our only starting senior. She did everything she could for us. We'll miss all our seniors (Julianna Carusiello, Lauren Solans, Katie Moreno and Nicole Anderson). They battled for us in practice and they were really good role players for our younger kids."
Setter Kaiya Eshoo handed out 31 assists with 11 digs. Maddie Mullin led with 19 digs while Kaburov and Karolina Wojdacz each had 15.
"Look at all that defense we played with five players in double digits for digs," Lill said.
Loyola coach Mallory Thelander noticed it, too.
"Offensively, we were getting frustrated because they have a very strong defensive team," said the first-year coach. "We just had to stay strong the whole match."
Lopez did exactly that, collecting 10 kills and even providing the set on Jackie Yau's match-winning kill.
"When it was match point, personally for me I knew my high school career was on the line," Lopez said. "It was match point every time there and we just said 'how much do we want this?' "
"The girls competed at that point," said Thelander, whose team defeated Hersey 19-25, 26-24, 25-21 in the New Trier tournament at the start of the season. "It was unbelievable. They obviously wanted it. I could not have asked for anything more."
Juliette van den Herik (5 kills, 3 blocks), Janine Boyan (4 kills, 2 blocks) and Kate Lubbe (1 kill) also return next season for Hersey.
"Loyola stepped up its game," Lill said. "We became a little passive. We just got outmanned at the end. We didn't counter with our offense like we did in the first two sets.
"We're upset we didn't close it out. But we are excited for the future. Many of these kids return and they'll be improved and have the experience from this. So it will be a blast. How can you not be excited for the future?"