Sieracke, Lakes ache — with joy
The Achilles tendon, achy enough that Rachel Sieracke walked into Wauconda’s gym sporting a protective boot and buckled it back on when she hobbled out, didn’t faze her.
Another first for Lakes volleyball — a regional championship — did get to her.
“I’m just so happy,” Sieracke said with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
But what made the Eagles’ senior captain most emotional was a conversation with Wauconda coach Bob Taterka following Lakes’ 25-22, 18-25, 25-18 win in the Class 3A Wauconda regional final Thursday night.
“He just gave me the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten in my life,” Sieracke said.
Taterka wanted the four-year varsity standout to know how much he appreciated the passion with which she plays on the court.
“She plays with desire, dedication, commitment,” said Taterka, aware Sieracke was playing hurt. “She’s just a great player.”
She couldn’t have heard greater words from the opposing coach.
“It got me teary-eyed,” Sieracke admitted.
Lakes needed everything Sieracke had — including the 5-foot-11 setter’s season-high 11 kills — to shake the host Bulldogs, who nearly wiped out a 10-point deficit in the opening set.
Lakes (26-11), whose season of firsts also includes an invitational championship (Woodstock North) and a share of the North Suburban Prairie Division title, advances to the Ridgewood sectional. The Eagles will play Johnsburg at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“Our big thing is, we want to make school history this year,” Lakes coach Molly May said. “That’s what we’re doing — one step at a time.”
What made Lakes’ win possible Thursday was the play of Sieracke, as well as a service game that produced 9 aces, including three by Emily Aigner (team-high 12 kills) and two apiece by Sieracke and Sarah Horner (5 kills).
Wauconda, which got 12 kills apiece from Erinn Hellweg and Megan Tallman, finished 23-13.
“We played our hearts out,” the Harper College-bound Hellweg said. “We played as hard as we could to fight back. We got off to a rough start, but (Lakes) had really phenomenal serves. It just wasn’t in the cards for us, but it was an amazing season for us.”
At Lakes’ practice Wednesday, May and assistant coach Kate Hofeldt worked with Sieracke on finding soft spots in Wauconda’s defense, which May figured would be focused on stopping outside hitters Aigner and Horner.
“They were kicking my butt,” Sieracke, still smiling, said of May and Hofeldt. “We spent a lot of time just mixing up my tips and all my hits, because we couldn’t win with just two hitters.”
Lakes bolted to a 4-0 lead in the opening set and led 19-9, before Tallman (12 assists) and Hellweg helped lead Wauconda get within striking distance. Hellweg’s block closed the margin to 24-22, but Aigner’s fifth kill ended it for Lakes.
After Hellweg’s kill finished off a thrilling second set, three Wauconda errors to open the third spotted Lakes a 3-0 advantage. Aigner’s ace made it 4-0 and the Eagles never let up. Finally, an ace by Shannon Grant and Alex Silvola’s sixth kill gave Lakes reason to celebrate.
“What it came down to was that we ended up with (fewer) errors in the third game,” May said. “All 13 of the girls, even the bench, were extremely loud. They were in the game as much as the players on the court.”
A year ago, Wauconda won a sectional championship.
“I’m very proud of how we fought back in Game 1,” Taterka said. “We played our style of ball in Game 2. We were hoping that we would continue it into Game 3. Obviously we didn’t, but our kids played with a lot of heart, a lot of energy.”