Girls volleyball: Carmel takes title at Lake Forest
For pure volleyball action, fans should have checked in at the St. Ignatius-Lake Forest match Saturday afternoon.
"It was back and forth,'' noted Carmel girls volleyball coach Dave Pazely.
Carmel awaited the winner of the match. Home-standing Lake Forest took the match in three sets.
Carmel had won four matches in a row heading to the finals.
Eileen Tarcha of Carmel opened the serving for the 22-3 Corsairs. She used kills by Annie Bart and Mya Mainzer to grab a quick 5-0 lead.
Another productive server was libero Milana Moisio. She used 3 kills from Tarcha and even put one over the net herself. It was 17-5.
You guessed it. Carmel blitzed to a victory in the Lake Forest tourney, 25-8, 25-19.
"We kind of did,'' Tarcha agreed with the assessment of the first-set rout.
Mainzer joined the discussion and noted she likes tournament play.
"We get lots of reps,'' Mainzer said. "This will prepare us for the playoffs."
One thing is clear. This Carmel team is tough to topple.
"We are close friends,'' Tarcha added. "We talk about our team."
Another thing is clear. Serving is an important tool that the Corsairs rely on.
"We are serving at 90 percent,'' Pazely noted. "That sets the tone for us. We found people to pick on in every match."
In set two, Lake Forest took an 8-7 lead.
"Sometimes we get complacent,'' Tarcha admitted.
Just in time, Tarcha headed to the serving line. A kill and a block from Mainzer. A kill from Bart. A service ace. Another clever play from Mainzer with a drop shot. And Bart cleaned up with another kill. It was 13-8.
Lefty Riley Clark put one down and the Carmel lead was 19-12.
Injury-plagued Mundelein pulled out a win, coming from behind to topple Highland Park 16-25, 25-23, 25-17.
The Mustangs reached double figures in a two-set loss to Carmel. The Corsairs prevailed 25-10, 25-17.
Mundelein (4-15) was led on offense by Brianna Martin with 19 kills. Faith Krabbe notched 16 kills. Krabbe also had 40 assists. Elise Bernett led the defense with 43 digs.