Girls volleyball: Lake Zurich finishes strong to top Wheeling, advance to regional final

Lake Zurich coach Rachel Wiatrowski said her girls volleyball team has had a few struggles this season building confidence and closing out games.

The Bears picked the perfect time Tuesday night to alter that a bit.

After a pair of tightly-contested sets, the Bears finished in strong fashion to post a 21-25, 27-25, 25-13 triumph over No. 9 Wheeling (24-12) in the semifinals of the Class 4A Fremd regional.

The No. 7 Bears (19-14) will face top-seeded and host Fremd (27-7) in Thursday's 6 p.m. title match.

After escaping match point, Lake Zurich made things look much easier in the decisive set, grabbing a 6-0 lead and never looking back.

Sophomore standout setter/OPP Sage Olson put down four of her 18 kills (tied her career-high) to help the Bears pull away in the third set.

Junior Emerson Smith and sophomore Olivia Klimsta each added 6 kills in the match for the winners, whose offense was set by Ella Elsen and Olson (11 assists apiece).

"Sometimes we weren't closing out the second set or maybe the third set, but we actually did this time," Wiatrowski said. "So honestly I'm pretty proud of them to do what they did. The third set was great . They came out strong and held the lead the whole time."

Leading 23-13, Olson and Klimstra finished with back-to-back kills to end the match.

"We just came out so much stronger in the third set and we just really showed what we could do," Olson said. "And that's what coach Rachel always preaches. We just needed to prove ourselves and I feel like getting that lead early just gave us more confidence and we just finished the match. "

Getting that lead at the service line for the Bears was Malia McManus, who served 4 straight points including an ace.

The lead ballooned to 12-2 on an ace by Smith and a hitting error by Wheeling, forcing Wildcats coach Jason Kopkowski to call his second timeout.

"We've been in this situation before where we've gone down early and we fought back a couple of times," Kopkowski said. "But we've been talking about getting down against a good team and how that is never to your advantage and that's what happened. It's hard in any set but definitely the third set.

"I thought Daniella Dichoso did a great stepping up and Vanessa Siergiejuk did a great job as well. That's what it was the whole season. There hasn't been a superstar carrying the team. It's been a team effort all season and that's what it was tonight.."

Wheeling graduates 10 seniors.

"We're losing a ton but we're gaining a ton, too," Kopkowski said. "Our junior varsity team won 24 matches as well and I believe they won the division so we are excited about the future. It was a fun season. We hadn't won 20 matches since before COVID."

In Set 1 , the Wildcats rallied from an 11-7 deficit and won the set on back-to-back points from Naomio Concklin and Sophia Lucas.

Set two was also close all the way to the finish. A block by Klimstra got the Bears to set point at 24-22 before the Wildcats tied it at 24 on a kill by Roxanna Miloucheva off a set from Amelia Sopel and a LZ hitting error.

Anna Golikova's kill gave Wheeling a 25-24 lead but a hitting error tied it at 25.

The Bears then closed it out with two service points from McManus, who also had 11 digs in the match.

"It was a great time (the end of the second set and the third set) to show what they were capable of doing," Wiatrowski said. "They're very, very young and that confidence is hard to come by with four sophomores on the court and they did a good job tonight.

"I think Sage (Olson) stepped up tonight. I think Ella (Elsen) stepped up in the second and third set and started playing some defense which is what we really needed. I think Olivia (Klimstra) did great on the pin.

“Junior Ava Chavez (1 kill, 2 blocks) filled in for our middle hitter Victoria Koziol (Illness) and did great. We brought her up two weeks ago from the junior varsity. I figured you can never have too many middles. Arisa (Bisofa) stepped it up in the third set with blocking. So we actually had a lot of people who stepped up tonight."