'Cats spooky good in win over Antioch

Antioch Community High School was decorated in Halloween black and orange, which are the same colors Libertyville wears.

The Wildcats felt right at home, as they defeated host Antioch 25-12, 25-12 to capture the North Suburban Conference volleyball championship Wednesday night.

Libertyville, winner of the NSC Lake Division, improved to 24-6 and captured its first conference championship since 2000.

Antioch, winner of the NSC Prairie Division, fell to 24-6.

"This was just an awesome win for us tonight," said Libertyville coach Chris Trzyna, whose team lost to Antioch in a tournament earlier this season. "We had every part of our game working and we did the things we knew that we had to do."

Lexie Gibbons had 6 kills on 9-of-10 hitting and 5 blocks. She's one of 10 seniors on Libertyville's roster.

"This victory means everything for me," Gibbons said. "This is what we've been working for all season."

In the second game, Libertyville held a 9-7 lead until Gibbons executed four blocks in a row. The Wildcats never looked back.

"I've been working on my timing all season," Gibbons said. "I had a lot of help from the other girls on the team, especially Ali Haws who showed me how to time my blocks."

Fellow senior Haws had 5 blocks and 4 kills on 12-of-13 hitting.

"It's definitely a rush," Haws said. "We came in here ready to play. Everything was there for us. Our blocking was there, our hitting was there, and it just felt right."

Jenny Caren led the serving with 14 points, including 3 aces.

"We had lost to (Antioch) in a tournament so it feels good to come back and beat them," Caren said.

Erin DeMarco served 6 points and lofted 19 assists (39-of-40 setting) for Libertyville. Emma Melendez served 4 points and recorded 6 digs. Dani Kopera served 5 points, including an ace.

Also for the Wildcats, Emma Mach had 5 kills. Leigha Bystol and Katy Pfund each contributed 3.

For Antioch, Lindsay Callanan had 8 digs, while Mellisa Ori had 6 assists. Libertyville limited Katie Lonergan and Megan Toczek to 2 kills apiece.

Libertyville led the first game 2-1 when Caren served 7 points in a row.

With the Wildcats up 13-3, Callanan scored two consecutive points to start a 4-point rally, but the Wildcats took advantage of Sequoit miscues to start an 11-5 run.

"We just didn't play our game tonight," Sequoits coach Glen Heitman said. "We weren't ready to play and just weren't into it tonight. We didn't play good defense and just never got into our offense at all."