Risley, Libertyville rise to occasion

Visiting Mundelein had very little room for error in its North Suburban Conference boys volleyball match at Libertyville Wednesday night.

The Mustangs played the Wildcats tough in a 25-21 loss in the opening game, but Libertyville overcame an early deficit before rolling to an impressive 25-11 victory in the second game to win the match.

The Wildcats (2-1, 2-0) trailed 8-7 after 3 service points by Mundelein's John McElligott in Game 2.

But the Mustangs (3-6, 0-3) lost that brief momentum completely after that point as Libertyville's Matt Anderson rolled off 6 straight service points for a 13-8 advantage.

"We definitely are struggling with our confidence level on the floor and I have to find a way to shake them out of it," said Mundelein coach George Dressen Jr. "Every team that we've played this year has been extremely up for playing us and the more confidence we have the more intensity we will have."

An ace by Libertyville's Tom Hannum (12-for-14, 10 points, 5 aces) gave the Wildcats a 16-10 lead before 8 service points by teammate Zach Sesterhenn (13-for-13, 10 points) closed out the match.

The Wildcats' passing was impressive with Chris Risley (7 kills) getting great support from setters Nick Olson (14 assists) and Matt Bernard (11 assists).

Risley had 3 kills in a row late in the second game to prevent the Mustangs' offensive attack from putting together any sort of a comeback.

"I think in the first game we were kind of excited because it was our first home match of the season, but in the second game we did what we needed to do and we finished it up," said the 6-foot-4 Risley. "Olson and Bernard did a great job of feeding me, and we wanted to establish the middle early and it worked out."

Senior Jack Matthews was another big contributor for the Wildcats with 5 kills, as was junior teammate J.J. Hill with 4 kills. Hannum also had 4 kills for the Cats.

McElligott led Mundelein with 4 kills while teammate Jack Boich had 3 kills against the stubborn Libertyville defense.

"The fact we can get that kind of productivity out of our middle hitter (Risley) shows how well we passed tonight," said Libertyville coach Steve Rochon. "This is kind of that time period where we kind of try to find ourselves, and I'm pretty confident we're going to get better."