Girls volleyball: Libertyville gets past Fremd

The last time Libertyville's girls volleyball team visited Fremd, Greg Loika's daughter Charlee was about to be born so the Wildcats' head coach did not attend.

But like they did for their fill-in coach Jenny Smith two years ago, the Wildcats made sure they sent Loika home a winner from Palatine, too.

After a back-and-forth tussle, Libertyville finally put away the pesky Vikings 25-18, 20-25, 25-23 in the nonconference match.

Although they fell behind 8-0 while dropping the second set, the Wildcats used their comeback effort to spark their third-set play.

"We talked a lot about that," Loika said. "At the timeout when we had gotten to within 23-20, we said we were building from this no matter how the set ends."

It ended on Fremd senior Breslin Reid's block but the Wildcats saw only positives.

"At the end of that set we said we need to make sure we were chunking some momentum to go into the next set if we can't finish in two," Loika said.

Things worked out for Loika's Wildcats as they finished the tightly-contested third set with junior Ella Schaffnit (7 kills) putting down the match-winner off a set from classmate Peyton O'Brien's 18th assist.

Junior Kellie Hopper led the Wildcats (7-1) with 8 kills while classmate Kaylie Stuteville put down a season-high 5.

"Kaylie did a nice job and she had a couple of blocks as well," Loika said of his middle hitter. "So we were really happy with her production."

Fremd sophomore Izzy Segoviano (15-of-16, 3 aces) produced 7 straight points to give Fremd its 8-0 cushion in Set 2.

"I thought Izzy did a really nice job," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, whose team is 0-2. "She had that serving streak and I thought she played really well defensively (5 digs).

"Beyond that, we've got to have a little more balanced offense. If we are just going to go with one or two people, teams are going to be able to catch on to that."

O'Brien caught Fremd off guard when her second attack fell for a kill and 3-1 lead in the third set. But neither team would lead by more than 4 points the rest of the way.

"It was very important that we got that momentum from the second set going into the third," said O'Brien, who has committed to the University of Mississippi. "I think we just realized how much we needed to come together. No matter how much we are down, we always know we have each other's back. So I think we did a good job playing as 'one' throughout the match. That always helps."

Sophomore Rylen Reid helped the Vikings with a match-high 12 kills while classmate Claudia Wala had 5. Cassie Seaver added 3 and Breslin Reid had 2. Lydia Vander Ark (9 assists) and Elaina Rizzo (6) handled the setting.

"I told the girls I felt they played well against Naperville and that we played even better in this match," Pinley said. "So we are stepping in the right direction. We just need to continue that."