Boys volleyball: Libertyville drops heartbreaker in sectional final
It was a real dogfight when No. 1-seeded Libertyville met No. 3 New Trier Tuesday evening for the Barrington boys volleyball sectional championship.
Neither team could get the upper hand as the Wildcats pulled out a 25-23 victory in the first set only to see the Trevians (27-10) bounce back with a 25-23 comeback victory in the second set.
Libertyville (31-5) held an 11-8 lead on a service point by junior Lukas Slesers (11 kills) in the third set. But New Trier stole the momentum the rest of the match as it went on a 17-8 run to post a 25-19 victory to advance to the Elite Eight. The Trevians will face perennial power Glenbard West in the quarterfinals Friday at Hoffman Estates at 10:30 a.m.
A kill by Slesers cut the Trevians' lead to 16-14, but then New Trier began its late surge. A kill by Oliver Potterfield (game-high 12 kills) and a block by Henry Brandenberger (7 kills) boosted its lead to 19-14.
A kill by the Wildcats' Tyler Wilson (7 kills) cut New Trier’s lead to 20-17. But a kill by the Trevians' Grantas Vasiliauskas (9 kills) put his team on the verge of victory at 23-17. A kill by New Trier's Charlie Tinsley (8 kills) put the finishing touches on the 10th sectional crown in school history.
"Hats off to New Trier, they played probably the best game I've seen them play and they did a great job of scouting our defense," said Libertyville coach Jenny Smith, whose team split two previous matches against New Trier this season. "Offensively our kids did a really great job exposing their defense. It really could have gone either way, and it's just too bad because this is a really talented and incredible group of seniors."
The Wildcats trailed 21-18 in the first set before coming alive as a kill by Nate Knight (11 kills) and an ace by Jackson Kern (10 digs) gave them a 24-22 lead. The Trevians served the final point out of bounds to end that set.
Libertyville's senior Aarav Bamrolia had 35 assists and 12 digs. Libertyville junior Jordan Coughlin and New Trier's Jim Hayek had 5 kills each. Colin Kim and Sean Scheppach had 19 and 14 assists, respectively, for New Trier while teammate Keenan Roderick had 11 digs and 5 assists. The Trevians were down 22-21 in the second set before going on a 4-1 run to escape with the 25-23 win.
"That has been one of our goals lately is to make sure we're staying diverse so everybody is getting set because we have threats all across the net so we need to make it harder to defend us," said New Trier coach Sue Ellen Haak. "We have been a comeback team all season. Our team is very good at fighting, and they're very confident. We know we just always need to stay in striking range. Libertyville is an outstanding team and that game could have gone either way, but today our team stepped up."