Girls volleyball: Consistent McHenry battles past Lake Zurich

This is how the season went for Lake Zurich's girls volleyball team.

This how the Bears' Class 4A regional semifinal against host McHenry went.

Great moments, followed by not-so-great moments.

"I think we know how to fight pretty well, but we do dig ourselves holes," Lake Zurich senior hitter Katie Guy said. "I feel like throughout most of the season we've been able to get back (into matches), even though sometimes the holes are too big."

Deficits of 9-1 and 14-3 in the second set against McHenry were crater-sized, and the Bears weren't digging themselves out. Fifth-seeded McHenry won 25-21, 25-18 to end No. 11 Lake Zurich's season and advance to Thursday's 6 p.m. final at McHenry's East Campus. McHenry (23-9) will face No. 3 Prairie Ridge (25-7), which beat the Warriors twice in two sets during Fox Valley Conference play, and will seek its first regional title since 1997.

North Suburban Conference champion Lake Zurich finished 17-20.

"We picked and chose when we were going to turn it on (during the season)," Bears coach Rachel Wiatrowski said. "We had super flashes (against McHenry). We played with moments of greatness and then we'd dig ourselves a hole. It's really hard to come back in volleyball when that happens."

Lake Zurich flashed early against McHenry, building a 12-7 lead in the opening set as Guy pounded 3 of her team-high 9 kills. But the hitting of Paige Hale (9 kills) and Liz Alsot (6 kills) helped the host team rally. Alsot's kill gave McHenry the lead for good at 17-16, and Hale hammered the opening-set winner.

"Our offense was really firing tonight, for sure," said coach Lexi Algrim, whose Warriors also got 9 assists from Dunja Masic, 11 digs from Gabby DePersio, 10 digs from Hale and 3 blocks from Madison Schutze. "We did a really good job of mixing up our shots and staying aggressive, which is something that we're always working toward and talking about."

Lake Zurich spotted McHenry a 3-0 lead on three unforced errors to start the second set. Guy delivered a pair of off-speed kills and hammered one through a block following a Lake Zurich timeout, but the sequence got Lake Zurich within only 14-6. The serving of junior Kelly Bush helped the Bears trim their deficit to 22-16.

"Kelly came out and just really served great for us, like she always does," Wiatrowski said. "She brought us back in it."

"I really had my teammates there to help me," Bush said. "It was only because of them that I was able to get on that (serving) run at the end."

In the end, however, Lake Zurich's fourth and fifth missed serves of the match finished off McHenry's win. McKenna Zobel contributed a pair of kills during the Bears' late push. Claudia Kieda added 6 kills for Lake Zurich, Andrea Kamins collected 22 digs, and Kylie Dykgraaf dished out 9 assists.

"I'm really proud," said Bush, who had 7 assists. "We laid it all out on the floor at the end."