Deerfield denies Vernon Hills

Clearly, the most exciting moment for Vernon Hills came with Michael Heinz serving in Set 2.

The senior's low serve just cleared the net. And when Max Spiglanin made block kill, the Cougars had erased a 7-4 Deerfield lead and surged to a 9-8 advantage. There was fire in the eyes of the Cougars players and momentum had jumped over net to Vernon Hills.

The sectional semifinal at Highland Park on Friday night could not have been closer. Maybe the difference was the 1-2 punch of Deerfield outside hitters Zachary Hara and John Harlan. The two power hitters combined for 23 kills, as Deerfield ended the Cougars' season by winning identical 25-23, 25-23 scores.

"What a match," coach Eugene Chang said after his Warriors improved to 32-6 and earned a berth in Tuesday's final. "It was very, very well played. Both teams wanted this."

Set 1 was as close as it could be. Nine ties took the score to 23-23. Five times down the stretch, Vernon Hills (28-10) broke Deerfield's service. Heinz had 2 of his 7 kills, while Dylan DeBoer also checked in with a pair of kills. With Hara serving for the Warriors, the final two points went Deerfield's way.

After the match, Heinz, even though he had played his final high school game, was all smiles.

"We played well," he said. "Just not well enough."

Heinz noted his serve hasn't always worked in the past. But it was clearly "on" Friday night.

"My serve is always hit and miss," he said. "It just happened to work tonight."

The Cougars' last lead of the season came when setter Ryan Opitz served an ace to make the score 17-16.

"There were errors on both sides," Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry said. "I think we had leads at 15 in both sets. We didn't serve well enough tonight. Deerfield was tough to defend."

Dropping two tight games to this 32-match winner from Deerfield is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, those two fine hitters in Chung's lineup are special. Hara led all hitters with 13 kills, and Harlan added 10.

"We depend on them a lot," Chung said.

Heinz and Spiglanin both had 7 kills for Vernon Hills, while DeBoer added six. Opitz notched 23 assists.

"It wasn't our best hitting night," Curry said.

For Opitz, Heinz and Spiglanin, it was their final high school match.

"That's three years on varsity (each) or nine varsity seasons," Curry said. "That's losing a lot. They knew what the deal was. We hope we have younger kids who are hungry. These seniors have given us valuable lessons on game preparations."

In addition, undersized middle Tyler Small had a very solid senior campaign for Vernon Hills. The Cougars will not be left without talent. The rising star, DeBoer, will return along with power-hitting middle Lem Turner. Another player to keep an eye on is sophomore Jared Bennett. Nine juniors, in total, have a chance to return next season.