Cary-Grove wins with an assist from Hersey

All it took for Cary-Grove to win the Jacobs volleyball tournament Saturday was a school record from Hersey's Becca Haraf.

In the Platinum bracket, which included teams who went 3-0 in pool play, the Trojans downed Hersey 25-19, 25-18 but then fell 17-25, 25-18, 25-22 to Waukesha (Wis.) Catholic Memorial. Hersey turned around and upset Waukesha, who was the runner-up in Wisconsin's Division II state tournament last year, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16. The Trojans took home first with the best percentage of games won.

"I'm really happy with this team at this point in the season," Trojans coach Patty Langanis said.

Hersey (6-1) also had reason to be pleased, going 4-1 in the tournament and ending with the huge victory over Waukesha (11-2).

"We played like we had nothing to lose," said Haraf, who set a Hersey school reco rd with 30 digs against Waukesha. "We knew what we did wrong against Cary-Grove."

The Trojans (6-1) struggled to stop 6-foot 3-inch junior Kelli Browning on the middle block. Hersey, which struggled against the middle block against Cary-Grove, shut her down.

"That was the biggest team we've seen," said Trojans setter Abbey Heredia, who was an all-tournament selection. "They were putting up a big block against us."

Hersey used all-tournament selections Katie Lill (outside) and Maddie Swan (middle blocker) to negate Browning, also an all-tournament selection.

"They were on fire," Hersey coach Nancy Lill said. "We needed to establish our outsides."

After going 2-1 in pool play, Hampshire (4-2) beat Rockford Boylan 25-10, 19-25, 25-23, but lost to Crystal Lake Central 25-22, 25-27, 25-13 in the Gold bracket.

"You learn the most from losing," Whips middle blocker Cassie Dumoulin said. "We need to work on serve receive and covering our blocks."

Both Elgin (3-4) and Jacobs (1-6) also had learning experiences on Saturday. After dropping 3 matches in pool play, Elgin won 26-24, 25-16 against Belvidere (1-6) and 25-11, 25-19 against Round Lake (1-7).

"We're starting off good," Elgin outside hitter Kendall Martin said. "We're pushing other teams more."

Jacobs went 1-2 in pool play, defeating Elgin 25-14, 25-19. Jacobs did drop matches to Stevenson (5-3) 25-13, 25-15 and West Bend East (12-4) 25-18, 25-19.

"We played well against Elgin and Boylan," Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer said. "We have to work on the big momentum play and consistency on defense."