Boys volleyball: Libertyville completes perfect NSC season
The No. 7-ranked Libertyville boys volleyball team will be taking some momentum into the Carmel Catholic regional next week after rolling to the North Suburban Conference championship over visiting Warren Wednesday night.
The Wildcats (28-4, 7-0) were fired up on senior night, and they beat the Blue Devils 25-17 in the first set before cruising to an easy 25-12 win in the second set to go undefeated in the NSC this spring.
Warren (22-12, 4-3) played Libertyville tough in the first set as a block by sophomore Eddie Chand deadlocked the score at 14-14.
But that was as close as the Blue Devils would get as a block by junior Jordan Coughlin (4 kills) gave the Wildcats a 17-14 lead. Senior Aarav Bamrolia (15 assists) had 4 straight service points to seal the 25-17 victory with an 11-3 run to end the first set.
"In the second set I would say we were much more consistent with our serving and our defense to protect our serves let us keep going on big runs," said Coughlin, who is one of many key juniors on the squad. "It's a great group of guys. We're all very energetic and very passionate about the game. And we all had a really good time tonight and really enjoyed the game."
Warren held an early 3-2 lead in the second set on a service point by senior Caleb Bicket. But Libertyville built a 10-5 lead on an ace by senior Alex Brown. Then junior Jackson Kern rolled off 6 straight service points to put the Blue Devils in a huge 20-8 deficit.
"I just feel like we didn't bring the energy today, but they're obviously a good team so we have to play our best and we did not do that tonight," said Warren coach Kim Paasch. "I think we were very tentative because we know they have big blockers so then we don't hit our normal shots and we don't play our normal game so credit to them for taking us out of our game."
Six-foot-9 junior Nate Knight had 5 kills and 2 blocks for the Wildcats while senior teammate Tyler Wilson added 4 kills. Warren was unable to contain Libertyville's firepower in the second set as there was no drama at all after the Wildcats established their big lead.
"We weren't playing our best to start off the match, and I don't know if it was because of our senior night, our nerves, or last home game or anything like that," said Libertyville coach Jenny Smith, whose team in the No. 1 seed in their sectional.
"But we were able to get kind of into our flow and play the way that we like to play with aggressive serves, great defense, and being aggressive at the net. So I thought we played our game well in the second set and at the end of the first set."