Girls volleyball: Lang opens door to Libertyville’s first state championship match by blocking Joliet West
Libertyville’s Vivian Lang knows that when she can establish her block early in a match, she can send the opponent’s offense reeling.
Lang, who has 98 blocks this season, is no stranger to being the player providing such blocks.
The junior middle hitter was crucial again as the Wildcats established early dominance in a Class 4A state semifinal against Joliet West at CEFCU Arena on Friday night.
“For sure at the beginning of the game, it’s so important,” Lang said. “It really takes down the offense’s confidence.
“I think my teammates do a good job of celebrating me so my blocks feel super valued. I think that really helps on our side of the court.”
Lang had two blocks and a kill as Libertyville roared to an 18-6 lead in the first set and didn’t look back in a 25-12, 25-20 win to reach the program’s first-ever state championship match. Lang had three blocks and three kills overall.
Carsen Sesi paced the Wildcats (40-1), who will play Mother McAuley in the state final at 8:55 p.m. Saturday, with seven kills. Rhode Island recruit Elle Knight and Emerson Zovistoski each added five kills, while Illinois State recruit Charlie Fleegle recorded 14 digs and three aces.
Lexie Grevengoed led Joliet West (37-4) with seven kills.
Libertyville coach Greg Loika knows that when the Wildcats establish their block, everything else falls into place behind it, and they value it.
“Our defense is tough to handle when our block is in sync,” Loika said. “Joliet West hits a heavy ball, and I don’t think they got a tip that went down for a kill, so we did really well against their off-speed stuff.
“We trust our back row explicitly. The ball didn’t land there a whole lot of times. That’s a credit to our block.”
Fleegle is one of the main recipients of help when Lang and company get rolling up front.
“It’s definitely super nice to know that we can trust our block because it does just make it super easy,” Fleegle said. “We knew they had big hitters all around and they can spread their offense really well. Having a block that’s timed and up is super nice.”
The two units help each other out in other ways too. Since Fleegle has a view of the whole court, she can see tendencies that maybe Lang can’t from up front.
“My teammates are always giving me feedback,” Lang said. “Charlie is always there like, ‘One more step this way,’ ‘one more step that way.’ It really came together. Kudos to my pin blocks too. They’re always talking, so that really helps.”
Joliet West led 4-1 early, but Libertyville worked out the jitters and pulled away with a crippling 17-2 run that completely flipped the match. The Wildcats served four aces, two players had blocks and five players had kills during the run.
“We’ve been ready for this moment all season long,” Loika said. “These girls have been very, very focused. We were able to prevent them from doing some of the things that they wanted to do. I’m just really proud that these kids stuck with what we knew would work against a very good opponent.
“It’s fun to be playing in the big game.”
Lang is enjoying every second of it.
“We’re just a really tight-knit group of girls,” she said. “I’m really proud of us. We’re doing a really good job. We’re playing our best volleyball right now. We’re having the best time.”
Libertyville has the chance to make it even better and win its first state title.
“We’ve worked so hard for this,” Lang said. “Everyone is so locked in and ready to go.”