Libertyville stops Carmel
Say, Hannah Saia, that's well said.
When the Libertyville senior started playing volleyball in seventh grade, she came up with a term for those kill attempts that look destined to bounce off the court.
“It's hot lava,” Saia said.
Say what, Saia?
“I got to get there before the ball gets in the hot lava,” a smiling Saia said.
Carmel Catholic not “Mount Carmel” was about to erupt during an opening-game sequence in the Class 4A Mundelein regional final Saturday. The Corsairs nearly started to celebrate a would-be point prematurely when Saia, a defensive specialist, made a defensive gem. Her dive, resulting in a pancake dig, kept the ball alive, and Paige Hopper's kill eventually ended a thrilling rally.
Instead of trailing 20-16, Libertyville was within 19-17.
The top-seeded Wildcats went on to win 26-24, 25-11, improving to 35-2, earning a berth in Tuesday's 6 p.m. sectional semifinal at Warren and avenging last year's regional-quarterfinal loss.
“That was a huge momentum swing,” Libertyville coach Greg Loika said of Saia's pancake. “That gets our crowd energized, and it gets the girls energized. It's funny, because we've talked all year about not turning your back from the play ... You got to play to the whistle.”
The opening game couldn't have been more entertaining. It started with a long rally that Carmel's Sarah Grum eventually finished with a kill, and it ended with a deft two-handed dink by Catie Steffen, whose killer kill on the previous point might have took some paint off Mundelein's court.
Carmel libero Karrah Toby left her feet multiple times to dig balls, and an upright Steffen somehow kept alive a thunderous spike by Taylor Pippen of the Corsairs.
“There was a lot of defense in that first game, for sure,” Loika said.
Alas for No. 8 Carmel (25-12), the Corsairs couldn't finish off the opening game after jumping out to leads of 5-0 and 9-2.
“That first game was awesome,” Carmel coach John Uhrik said. “As a coach, I couldn't have asked for anything more (from the players). They played their hearts out. Libertyville's No. 1 for a reason. And we're No. 8 for a reason.
“That first game made my season.”
After its great rally to win the opener, Libertyville dominated Game 2 after an attack by Pippen (8 kills) gave Carmel a brief lead.
“I thought we played real tentative in the first set,” Loika said. “After we finally ended up winning that game, we just talked about being really aggressive. We wanted to play our game and make (Carmel) defend us.”
Libertyville led 10-5 when Carmel senior middle Erin Paterkiewicz collided with a teammate and rolled her right ankle. Uhrik and assistant coach Patrick Shields carried their injured player off the court.
Paterkiewicz never returned, and the Corsairs never quite recovered.
“That's what happens when you lose your all-conference player,” Uhrik said of Paterkiewicz, Carmel's lone all-East Suburban Catholic selection. “Everyone just lost it.
“It's hard to win when you lose your leader and your heart.”
Paterkiewicz said she heard her ankle pop but thinks she suffered only a sprain. She was on crutches afterward.
“We came out feeling no pressure because we were (seeded) eighth and they were (seeded) first,” Paterkiewicz said. “We were just ready to play. A game against Libertyville is always a fun game for us. We love it. Losing was a little disappointing, but we played our hearts out. That (first game) was the best game I've ever seen our team play.”
Steffen and Hopper each had 7 kills for Libertyville.
“I'm so excited that we beat them just because last year we lost to them (in the regional),” said Steffen, who also had 12 digs. “We really wanted it.”
Kristen Webb led Libertyville's defensive effort with 20 digs. Hopper and Saia had 9 and 6, respectively. Loika said Webb gets about a hundred pancakes a year.
“She's really good with those,” Saia said. “She's moving forward all the time, and she's always on her feet. I don't know what she calls it, but she's like me, in that she just wants to get there before the ball touches the ground.”