Boys volleyball: Hersey scraps out tight win over Libertyville

Thursday night's Libertyville-Hersey boys volleyball game was a showcase for the liberos.

Both Jackson Kern, a Wildcats freshman, and Richie Johnson, a senior for the Huskies, were matching each other with spectacular defensive play after spectacular defensive play.

The teams battled through two tense, hotly contested sets, but in the end it was Johnson and his Hersey teammates that turned the tide.

The visiting Huskies rallied to take the first set, then opened up a big lead in set two and held on for a 27-25, 25-20 nonconference win.

"I thought it was a battle on both sides tonight," said Johnson, who is in his first year as a libero after previously playing outside hitter. "This was a great win on the road - we had a bunch of guys step up, they weren't making any errors, they were putting balls away and giving it their all."

"Richie did a fantastic job tonight," said Hersey coach Laura Gerber. "Cutting the ball off, taking it with his hands, he really played well."

Libertyville coach Jenny Smith had just as much praise for her frosh defensive specialist.

"We were a little worried about pulling him up to varsity," said Smith of Kern, "because when you have a young kid playing with 18-year-olds, you worry about his confidence.

"But he comes on the court and he is so confident, and is such a good leader for us. It's great to have such a reliable, disciplined, and scrappy kid step up in our program. and we're very optimistic about the libero position for the next four years. Tonight, he was everywhere and kept us in the match."

On its home court, Libertyville held the lead most of the way through set one, but Hersey fought back and took a 23-20 lead after a kill from Justin Arrowood.

The Wildcats got the score back to 25-25 when senior setter Luis Correa hit a perfectly placed dump kill.

But the Huskies got a sideout, then it was a bump from Johnson, a set by Naveen Samuel, and a kill from Arrowood that gave the first game to the visitors.

"Justin had a nice offensive game tonight," said Gerber of Arrowood.

Libertyville (10-4) led again midway through the second set, but it was Arrowood again, with a block and then a kill to get the Huskies tied up.

Then Hersey strung together 5 consecutive points, and the closest the Wildcats could get was 21-19.

Gregory Kubon and Rory Broderick had the final kills for Hersey as the Huskies improved to 13-1 on the year.

"I thought Gregory came through with some fantastic shots tonight," said Gerber about Kubon. "Really, everybody played well."

Arrowood led Hersey on attack with 10 kills while Conner Krebs added 7.

For Libertyville, Kern led the way with 15 digs, while Aleks Slesers finished with 8 kills.

Correa excelled for the Wildcats with 14 assists, 3 blocks, an ace and 4 digs.

"Hersey is a good team," said Smith. "We like playing against them, they're always tough competition, but I felt like we didn't play our game today."

"We weren't disciplined on our block and that's something we've been working on and driving home all week. When you can't block a good offensive team, it makes it very difficult to run points and not have to go point-to-point."