Lakes is up to the task against Barrington
For the Lakes varsity girls' volleyball team, an industrious approach came in very handy Thursday evening as the Eagles' girls volleybal lteam drew on experience to earn a hard-fought 25-19, 31-29 victory over Barrington in the Grayslake North regional championship game.
"We've been talking all year about putting tools in the toolbox, and sometimes you come out on top and sometimes you don't," said Lakes coach Kate Cheek, whose fifth-seeded girls improved to 30-7 on the year and will play Libertyville in the sectional semifinals at 6 p.m. next Tuesday. "We just said we've been here before, and we can do this. It's knowing how to handle a situation and knowing how to battle to the end."
After Lakes won the opening game, it looked like the end was never going to come. But that's what you get when you have two teams battling at this level, both holding the hope that their season will continue.
In what turned out to be the decisive second game, the Fillies missed a couple of serves at the end that proved costly.
The game featured 12 ties and eight lead changes before senior outside hitter Izzy Huntington served the final point, and after her ace was unsuccessfully returned, the Lakes' faithful mobbed the team near center court.
"Oh wow that felt so good," said Huntington after the game-clinching point. "What a second game! We just tried to stay in the moment and every time we got down, we just used that energy moving forward."
Huntington was a monster serving the entire evening, collecting 4 aces to accompany her 6 kills and 9 digs.
Junior outside hitter McKenna Lahr's piercing kill broke a 29-29 tie and more importantly kept the momentum on Lakes side before the victory was sealed shortly thereafter. Lahr finished with four kills and 12 digs.
"We're psyched to be playing Libertyville (next week)," added Huntington, who has committed to play next year at Div. III Davenport University in Michigan. "We all have a great bond together and just want to enjoy this and see how far we can take it."
Lakes' furthest advancement in the postseason was four years ago, when it lost in the sectional finals.
"The top 10 seeds in the sectional are neck and neck," added Cheek. "I was really impressed with Barrington. Their middles are phenomenal and their outside hitters were really scrappy. They had great hang time."
Junior libero Paige Bartlett was all over the floor to the tune of 16 digs, while Lakes got 10 kills and nine digs from senior outside hitter Megan Behrendt, who is entertaining the idea of playing for Lake Forest College next fall. Senior setter Maddie Demo was busy dishing out 22 assists on the evening.
Meanwhile, the upstart Fillies sure turned some heads the last two weeks, and especially in the three games played in the regionals this week.
On Tuesday, they defeated fourth-seed Wauconda and before being eliminated by Lakes, had won 6 of their last 7 games.
"What an exciting match - we had our moments, and both teams fought and battled back and forth," said coach Michelle Jakubowski, whose squad finished 15-22. "A week and a half ago we had 9 wins, so to finish the season like we did is very gratifying and something we can definitely build on heading into next year."
Junior outside hitter Gabby Morris had 8 kills, senior libero Olivia Hagan had 8 digs, and junior outside hitter Ana Zawisza dished out 12 assists in the losing effort.