Girls volleyball: Vernon Hills, St. Viator advance to sectional final
In terms of the seeds, there were no surprises in the semifinals of the Class 3A Vernon Hills girls volleyball sectional on Monday night.
It will be the host team and No. 1-seeded Cougars against No. 2 St. Viator for Wednesday's title at 6 p.m.
Vernon Hills (30-5) posted a 25-19, 25-21 triumph over No. 4 Deerfield (19-16) while St. Viator (29-9) tallied a 25-13, 23-25, 25-19 victory over No. 3 Lake Forest (18-15).
Cougars coach Chis Curry will be trying to get the Cougars their first sectional championship in program history (started in 1999) while veteran coach Charlie Curtin and his Lions are shooting for a third sectional crown since 2017.
Curtin and Curry's assistant Abbie Gutzmer (former Cougar head coach who won two of the program's three regional titles) were one year apart in class at Hersey High School.
In all, Curtin has guided the Lions to eight sectionals.
Vernon Hills is enjoying its first 30-win season in history (24 was the previous mark) under Curry, who is in his third season directing the girls program (23 with the boys).
Senior Peyton Self led the Cougars with 6 kills, followed by Alexa Cieslinski and Sonia Bondar with 4 apiece. Classmate Elli Amjadi, who has more than 1,000 career digs, had 6 on Monday while junior setter Maya Raval handed out 12 assists with 2 digs despite taking a hard-hit attack off her face in the first set.
"It stung but it's all good," said Raval, who never left the floor. "It feels great that we're playing for the championship after working hard all season. It's a great group of girls. They make my job easy. We are looking forward to moving on."
Curry also liked the play of senior Val Ramirez, who had 5 swings with 1 kill.
"We did not serve well and made too many mistakes but I don't believe we ever gave up more than a 3-point run. That's been a real focus of ours and it really helped this match."
Viator, which lost to Lake Forest in three sets on Senior Night after winning the first set, was determined to turn the tables this time.
"It was sad we lost on Senior Night but this was more important to us," said senior libero standout Reanne Valera (22 digs, 2 aces) who won a sectional last year. "This was like a revenge match. After that second set loss we just said we've got to move on to the next set. I'm proud of my team. We really came out strong and we did our best."
"We knew Lake Forest was a good team," Curtin said. "They came out and gave it their all. I respect their coach (Tia Rebecca) a lot. She puts together a great team. They stay focused and they play hard the entire time."
Top attackers for the Lions were Marcelina Gorny (12 kills, 2 blocks), Ella Trieloff (11 kiils , 2 assist), Louisa Battin (6 kills, 12 assist, 1 ace), freshman Erin Lynch (5 kills, 1 ace, 1 block) and Andrea Rivera (4 kills, 1 block). Mary Grace Lynch handed out 12 assists with an ace.
Viator led 10-3 in the second set when the Scouts began to inch closer. They tied the set at 12-12 on an ace by Emma Stadolnik. The set was tied at 16 and 21 before they scored 4 of the next 5 points, wrapping it up on Courtney Hvostik's kill off a set froim Mariella Haubner.
"It was definitely a fun match," Curtin added. "I'm glad our girls focused in the final set and went back to the game plan. In Set 2, we kind of got away from it. But we were able to do what we practiced and scouted, and it worked out at the end."
The Lions rebounded in the decisive set, building a 7-point lead midway through. They led 22-18 and got the final 3 points on an ace from Battin, a hitting error by Lake Forest and a kill by Gorny.