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Prospect prevails against Palatine in a Riedy classic

It’s not every day a high school coach goes up against his daughter on the opposing team.

Palatine’s Caitlin Riedy had been waiting for that day a long time.

Caitlin grew up watching her share of girls volleyball matches at Prospect, where her father Mike has been the head coach for 20 seasons.

In the last match of the 32nd annual Sandy Pifer Invite at the Jean Walker Field House on Saturday, Caitlin got her chance.

“It was definitely surreal,” said the Pirates junior setter. “I’ve been talking about this since I was little. I said ‘Dad, I’m going to play you when I’m older.’ So this was awesome to be on the court against him.”

Coach Mike Riedy’s Knights walked off the court as winners over Palatine with a hard-fought 25-23, 25-21 victory.

The win gave the Knights a 3-1 record and second place in the five-team invite which was won by Maine East.

The Blue Demons (12-5) went 4-0 to win their first championship in the Prospect Invite in at least 20 years.

Palatine (2-2) took third place followed by McHenry (1-3) and Lake Park (0-4).

Senior middle hitter Carly Thompson (team-high 32 kills) and junior defensive specialist Sarah Cutaia (team-high 65 digs) were named to the all-tourney team for the Knights (7-9), who also received 18 kills on 35-of-39 hitting by senior outside hitter Michelle Korf.

“Carly had a great day,” Mike Riedy said. “She easily led us in kills and everyone else stepped up, too.

“Probably the biggest surprise was Michelle Korf (senior outside hitter) who just played phenomenal. We had flashes of brilliance all day. One of those was (senior setter) Maggie Chuipek’s serving in Game 2 when she had 5 aces in a row.”

Other top servers for Prospect were Michelle Haaning (39-of-42, 4 aces) and Cutaia (41-of-42, 2 aces). Haaning (55 assists) and Chuipek (40) set the attack.

Senior middle hitter Allie Skowron led the hosts with 9 blocks while Thompson added 5.

“I’m really proud of my team,” Thompson said. “We had more energy than ever and that’s what helped us win. This was definitely a marking point in the season and hopefully gives us confidence.”

Palatine (3-12) is also hoping its two wins provide some confidence for the second half of the season.

“We didn’t play real well against Maine East,” said Palatine coach Dan Gavin. “We dug ourselves a lot of holes. But I was extremely pleased with the rest of the tournament.

“Obviously, we would have liked to have won the match with Prospect but I was happy how our younger group competed against them. We have some things to fix, but we’ll get there.”

The Pirates were led on attack by senior Kim Butler (22 kills) and junior Meg Angelaccio (11 kills), who were named both to the all-tourney team.

Claire Chaplinsky (10 kills) and Hannah Bridier (8) also helped spark the offense while Butler (10), Bridier (5) and Heather Holz (5) led with blocks.

Serve receiving leaders were Alexis Serna (36-of-40) and Angelaccio (23-of-28).

Angelaccio served a team-high 8 aces, followed by Liz Keelty (5) and Serna (3).

Riedy (29 assists) and Sydney Christiansen (28) handled the setting duties.

The Sandy Pifer Invite will return to its six-team format next year with the addition of Lake Zurich.

And with Palatine returning, Caitlin Reidy will get a chance to play against her father’s team again.

“It felt great to get to finally play against him,” Caitlin said. “Of course, it’s disappointing to lose but I thought our team played great, probably our best match of the whole season.”

Elk Grove Invite: Crystal Lake South (21-2) went 5-0 to win the, followed in order by De La Salle, Barrington, Elk Grove, Burlington Central and Willowbrook

Barrington (8-10) went 3-2 with two-game wins over the host Grens, Burlington Central and Willowbrook.

Christy Roney (32), Chase Kingwill (17) and Emily Watkins (15) were top attackers for the Fillies while Watkins (10), Claire Waliczek (4) and Ellie Lauderback (2) led in aces.

Waliczek handed out 73 assists and had a team-high 4 blocks.

Emily Casaletto paced the back row with 47 digs.

Elk Grove’s two wins came over Burlington Central and Willowbrook.

Amber Lindfors (7 kills, 3 blocks) and McKenzie Jordan (4) led the Grens’ attack in a 3-game win over the Rockets while Kerry Souder handed out 11 assists and Kelsey Conley had 11 digs.

Elk Grove (13-13) also won in three games over Willowbrook as Lindfors put down 14 kills and Taylor Socha 3.

Melissa Solorio and Celina Wlodarski each served 2 aces. Solorio and Lindfors recorded 3 blocks apiece while Souder handed out 21 assists.

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