Girls volleyball: Russo, Lakes savor regional final win over Carmel
It was match game for Lakes' Hailey Russo.
"This game meant a lot to me because my mom (Stacey) and coach (Sarah Yeager) won a regional here at Carmel when they played together," Russo said. "Now I can say that I won a regional with Sarah Yeager."
Russo had a huge match with 12 kills and 18 digs. That play along with her Lakes teammates. enabled the 5th-seeded Eagles to upend the 3rd-seeded Corsairs 25-22, 17-25, 25-19 to win their first Class 3A regional title since 2017.
"I am so proud of everyone," Russo said. "We all did this together."
Lakes (24-12) will meet second-seeded Deerfield Monday night at the St. Viator sectional in Arlington Heights at 6:30 p.m.
It was also a great homecoming for Yeager, who played with Russo's mom and won a regional title in 1993.
"It felt like home walking in here," said Yeager, who graduated from Carmel in 1996. "I was looking at the banners here and I thought how great it would be to put a recent one at Lakes gymnasium."
It didn't start out easy for Lakes. The Eagles fell behind Carmel 16-11 in the first set.
That's when Russo, along with outside hitter Julia Tebben, began to take over.
With some terrific sets from Maegan Brylski (21 assists) and Katie Mercure (12 assists), Lakes went on a 13-3 run to lead 24-19. After Carmel strung together a trio of points, Russo put the set away with her sixth kill for a 25-22 victory.
"It was all our team," said Brylski, who would end the match with 5 kills.
"It means the world to me that we were able to do this my senior year, especially not having a postseason last year."
Carmel (21-16) came back strong in the second set.
Led by Jess Greeby (12 kills), Quinn Mainzer (8 kills), Molly Halaburt (8 kills), Milan Moore (7 kills), Julie Shrafe (25 assists) and Melans Maisia (19 digs), the Corsairs pulled away from a 13-12 lead to cruise to a 25-17 win.
Lakes grabbed the momentum from the onset of the third set and never looked back. The Eagles scored the first 5 points. They then took advantage of 11 unforced errors by Carmel to build a 24-14 lead.
Carmel made it interesting when the Corsairs were able to score 5 straight points with Maisia serving. Tebben ended it with her 12th kill of the match for a 25-19 clincher.
"It means so much to me to make it this far this season," said Tebben, who is a senior. "Last season was so short with our regulations and everything. We have worked so hard this season and put everything into this match."
Carmel coach Dave Pazely said his team just couldn't overcome the slow start in the third set.
"It's been like that all season," Pazely said. "Up down, up down. When you start flat against a team that is very motivated, they will punish you. We tried to chip away, but it was too little, too late."
Mikalah Mueller and Riley Bell-Nance each had 4 kills for Lakes.