Girls volleyball: Pratt, Glenbrook South stun top-seeded Hersey
Glenbrook South's Ava Pratt was not ready to call it a season.
The Titan sophomore played her best volleyball of the season. She had 11 of her 14 kills in the final two sets as sixth-seeded Glenbrook South stunned No. 1 seed Hersey 18-25, 25-20, 25-22 Monday in Class 4A Glenbrook South sectional action in Glenview.
Glenbrook South (19-14) will meet second-seeded Barrington (31-7) in Wednesday's sectional final at 6 p.m.
"We thought the pressure was on them," said Pratt, whose team lost its two previous meeting with Hersey. "The first set was a little rocky. We had to change our mindset. We didn't want to end on a bad note and that drove us to play our best volleyball."
Allie Korba and Claire Van den Herick each had 2 kills as the Hersey led 8-3 in Set 1. The Huskies would never trail and Glenbrook South never got closer than two.
In the second set, Hersey led 16-15 when Pratt and the Titans made their move.
Firing from the outside, Pratt had 4 kills as Glenbrook South opened up a 22-19 lead. Caroline Crawford then helped the Titans finish the set off with 3 kills, including the final point of the set for the 25-20 win.
With all the momentum now, Glenbrook South came out strong, Pratt had 2 kills and an ace as the Titans surged ahead 11-3.
Hersey tried to rally behind Korba. The Central Michigan commit had 3 aces as the Huskies closed to 12-11.
Undaunted, Glenbrook South resounded with a 6-1 run to surge ahead 18-12.
Hersey again tried to respond, but the Titans' Taylor Knuth, who played in just the final set, wouldn't allow it. She had 3 kills down the stretch along with a pair from Pratt to put the match away.
Glenbrook South also got kills each in the match from Crawford and Knuth.
"It was ridiculous," Glenbrook South coach Kelly Dorn said. "We weren't very clean and we were up and down at times. But we played well when we had to and we got it done."
Hersey (30-8) was led by Korba, who had 25 assists and 5 kills. Van den Herick had 13 kills while Knutson and Dela Riva each had 5 kills.
"We had an opportunity to take care of business in game two and we didn't," Hersey coach Nancy Lill said. "There is nothing to be ashamed of. We had an incredible year and I thought we overachieved."