Girls volleyball: Libertyville honors staff with win over Barrington
It was staff appreciation night for Libertyville's girls volleyball team on Monday.
Senior Ella Schaffnit and her Wildcats teammates made sure to give their favorite educators a little fun outside of the classroom.
"My human anatomy teacher (Dr. David Kreutz) hadn't seen us play," Schaffnit said. "He said he loves coming to these events and hadn't been to one since COVID-19 began so it was nice for him and all our teachers to get to see our team play."
Not only did the staff get to see the Wildcats play, they saw them produce an exciting three-set win in a battle of conference champions.
The regular-season North Suburban champion Wildcats (19-5, 7-0) pulled out a 25-21, 23-25, 25-20 win over the visiting Mid-Suburban West champs (13-2, 10-0).
Libertyville led 17-10 in Set 2 but the Fillies made a dandy comeback for the win, capped by Campbell' Paris' kill at set point.
The Wildcats came right back in Set 3 to grab another 17-10 lead.
This time, they made sure to close it out.
Grace Comilla served 4 straight points to give the hosts a 13-5 lead, getting 2 aces along with blocks from sophomore Ashley Branford (3 blocks) and junior Kelly Hutchins (4 kills, 2 blocks). Once they got to 17-10, the Wildcats kept increasing the lead, making it 19-10 on a kill by senior Kellie Hopper, who led her team with 10. Schaffnit's seventh and final kill made it 21-11.
"When they came back on us in Set 2, we struggled with serve receive but in the third set we kind of found a way to calm down and push through it," Schaffnit said. "We adjusted really well to what they were doing in the third set and we knew the spots that were open so that helped us push through."
Senior setter Larisa Slesers handed out 17 assists for Libertyville while the backcourt was led by senior Olivia Sauers (12 digs), Hopper (11) and Schaffnit (8). Sophomore Keira Kasten also had 2 blocks.
Barrington rallied from the 17-10 deficit in Set 2 when sophomore Colete Garrels served 4 straight points to close her team to within 17-14 and freshman Sarah Jensen then rolled off 6 straight points with 2 aces to give the Fillies a 21-18 lead.
"In that third set, we took a quick timeout (at 21-14) when they had a couple of blocks and we made some errors," said Libertyville coach Greg Loika. "We wanted to make sure we didn't get that same sensation again as Set 2. Momentum is a fickle thing in this game. When it isn't on your side you have to do everything you can do to get it back quickly. We didn't do that in the second set. Barrington is a good team and that was a fun match."
The Fillies were led on attack by Paris (10 kills), Jessica Horwath (8) and Jenna Meitzler (6). They helped the Fillies reduce the 21-11 deficit in Set 3 to 23-19.
"These girls are awesome," said Fillies coach Michelle Jakubowski. "It was Homecoming week and we didn't practice. But no excuses. Libertyville played a better match than us. This was a good match for us to get ready for the Mid-Suburban League championship (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Hersey)."