Girls volleyball: Libertyville sweeps Lake Zurich
Purple was an inspiring color for the Libertyville girls volleyball team Wednesday evening.
Players, coaches and fans all wore purple T-shirts with “Katherine’s Klub” on them. There were purple balloons tied to the chairs on both sidelines for the North Suburban Conference match with visiting Lake Zurich.
And the Wildcats hope their first-set comeback and impressive finish in a 27-25, 25-14 victory was inspiring for 2024 graduate Katherine McLaughlin, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on Dec. 6.
“It feels even better to come out with this win for her,” said Libertyville sophomore libero Charlie Fleegle, who had 3 aces in a 10-0 run to close the match. “She’s been through so much.”
Libertyville coach Greg Loika made an announcement before the match that McLaughlin couldn’t be there but was watching on a livestream.
“She is a great friend of the program and many of the graduates and seniors and others on the team,” said Loika, whose 30-win team last year claimed a share of the NSC title and a Class 4A sectional crown. “We just wanted to do something to show some love to hear and hopefully she felt it.”
The Wildcats (13-8, 1-1), who also got their 1,300th victory in program history against Fremd two weeks ago, liked how they finished the match with a young Lake Zurich (8-7, 1-1) team. Seniors Grace Coughlin and Kenzie Tyrrell, junior Claire Evans (7 kills, 7 digs) and sophomore Elle Knight made an impact at the net after Lake Zurich got within 15-14.
Senior Molly Lyon (3 kills), who missed last season because of injury, played a big part in the set one comeback from a 17-14 deficit.
“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity this season with some really high ups and some low downs,” Fleegle said. “We had a lot of errors in the first set but we did a good job in the second. It was good to see everyone connecting.”
Fleegle, who moved into the libero position midway through her freshman season, played a big role with 16 digs.
“That’s her for sure, scrapping around, making plays and pumping people up,” Loika said. “She’s excellent at being a second setter when our setter defends the first ball. We have to stay steady around her and feed off her energy.”
Lake Zurich, which starts freshmen Sage Olson and Malia McManus and sophomores Ella Elsen and Emerson Smith, battled back to ties in set one at 23, 24 and 25 before Libertyville won it on Evans’ kill and Coughlin’s ace. Olson had 4 kills, 4 assists and 7 digs, McManus and Smith had 3 kills each and Elsen had 7 assists.
“Obviously our age shows in different situations and scenarios,” said Lake Zurich coach Rachel Wiatrowski. “But it’s a fun little team and they do like to fight. I think you’ll see big improvements as the season goes on.”