Carmel good as gold

Victorious on a volleyball court with Wheeling jerseys around him again, John Uhrik tugged on the front of his gold-colored shirt.

Only it wasn't Wheeling gold that he was wearing, but rather Carmel Catholic gold.

“I kind of have a heart halfway in, you know?” he said with a smile and shrug.

Uhrik was happy, all right, but had mixed emotions after he coached Carmel to a grueling, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16 win over Wheeling, his high school alma mater, in a Class 4A regional semifinal at Mundelein on Thursday night.

Uhrik's brother, Ed, coaches boys volleyball and boys soccer at Wheeling and was sitting in attendance.

“I saw him shrug when Wheeling screwed up,” John Uhrik said.

Carmel (25-11) messed up less on this night, earning the Corsairs a rematch with Libertyville, the top seed in the Warren sectional, in the regional final at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Mundelein.

Libertyville (34-2) knocked off Warren 25-14, 25-17 in Thursday's second semifinal. The Wildcats defeated Carmel 23-25, 25-13, 25-12 on Sept. 1, avenging last year's regional loss.

“I'm really excited for (Saturday) and I can't wait,” Carmel junior middle hitter Taylor Pippen said. “We just have to have really strong communication. When we're playing together as a team, we can't be stopped. ... (Libertyville) is strong team, and we're going to have to play hard to beat them.”

Eighth-seeded Carmel needed maximum effort to outlast No. 9 Wheeling (18-18), which trailed most of the night. The Wildcats overcame a 22-18 deficit to win the middle game.

“It's just tough to always be chasing,” Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski said. “(Carmel) controlled the match very nicely from start to finish, and when you're playing from behind, you're worried about making mistakes and you play a little more timid. If we could have put the pressure on them, it maybe would have been a little different result especially Game 3.”

Pippen, the daughter of former Bulls great Scottie Pippen, paced the Corsairs with 13 kills, including seven in Game 2. She's drawing interest from several Division I schools and she said she might take visits to Wisconsin and Northwestern.

“She's really good,” said Wheeling's Kellie Kuzmanic, who's also a 6-foot junior middle. “She can really hit those sharp angles. You try to block her, but when she gets those angles, it's kind of hard.”

Kuzmanic led Wheeling with 10 kills on 17-of-20 hitting. Kayla Jordan and Sarah Hennesssy added 8 and 6 kills, respectively, for the Wildcats. Stephanie Fuchs dished out 28 assists (60-of-60 setting), while Jordan and Annette Gorzelany each had 10 digs.

“I thought they were extremely, extremely scrappy,” Uhrik, a 2001 Wheeling graduate, said of the Wildcats. “They played a real good match. I couldn't believe how many balls they got that should have been on the ground. It was frustrating.”

After Kuzmanic's serve tipped the top of the net and fell untouched for an ace to end Game 2, Carmel slowly took control in the decisive game. One of Erin Paterkiewicz's 9 kills for Carmel started a 7-0 run, which included 3 straight kills by Jessie Wayland, and took the lead to 16-7.

“Jessie, when she starts swinging, you better run,” Uhrik said. “She's got some power.”

Wheeling got within 20-15, but Hannah Turner drilled a Megan Mowery set, and Pippen followed with an ace. Carmel's defense tightened up in the final game.

“We just had to play together more and talk more,” Pippen said.

“It was a good match to end on, even though we lost,” Kuzmanic said. “It was exciting, we played hard and we fought to the end.”