Huntley, Libertyville advance to Class 4A sectional title match

McHENRY – Every time skinny Libertyville junior Claire Evans hammered a kill or delivered a jump serve that handcuffed a Hampshire player, her teammates reacted so enthusiastically with high fives and playful shoves that they nearly toppled her over.

It’s OK. Evans can handle getting pushed. She sprouted about three inches over the summer, allowing her to easily fend off teammates when they mobbed her following her match-ending kill in the second Class 4A McHenry Sectional semifinal Tuesday night.

Libertyville stymied a spirited third-set comeback by Hampshire to pull out a 21-25, 25-15, 25-23 win. The comeback victory for the Wildcats (26-12) puts them in Thursday’s 6 p.m. final against Huntley (30-8).

The 5-foot-11½ Evans finished with 12 kills and seven aces. As a 5-9 sophomore last year, she played on the sophomore team.

“It helped a ton,” Evans said of her growth sport. “It helped me reach higher with my swinging and my attacks, and then my blocking, too.”

Libertyville needed Evans to be a force against a Hampshire team that had its own player wreaking havoc with her attacks and serves all night. Junior hitter Liz King racked up 15 kills and five aces for the Whip-Purs, almost rallying her team from an eight-point deficit in the third set.

Hampshire finished 29-8 in its first season under coach Omar Cortez.

“It’s tough going down more than 5-6 points [in the third set] against a tough team like that,” Cortez said. “Liz was able to at least get us back into the game. We had some miscues here and there, but the girls fought hard. I can’t complain. We’ve had a great run, a great season.”

King was dominant at the net early in the match. Her ninth kill ended the opening set.

“We knew in our scout for this match that things were going to run through her, and she didn’t disappoint with how she played,” Libertyville coach Greg Loika said. “She’s a streaky hitter, and she was on point for the first two sets.”

Libertyville built an 18-10 lead in the third, but it was King’s top-spin jump serves that baffled the Wildcats and got the Whip-Purs back into the match. King served one ace during a 7-0 run that got Hampshire within 18-17. The Whip-Purs pulled even twice, at 20-20 and 21-21.

“When she’s back at the [serving] line, they’re down eight, and she serves 5-6 in a row, that tenses things up for your players and everybody,” Loika said. “But it is the stuff that I think we’ve prepared for to just try and stay steady. That’s the best serving player we’ve seen all year, no doubt.”

King dinked a kill over a pair of Libertyville defenders in mid-air to stave off match point, but Evans drilled the final point, after another one of her kills lengthened the Libertyville lead to 24-22.

“She stretched out a couple of inches from last year,” Loika said. “And all of a sudden, with her hops, she’s getting up there and really whipping the ball.”

Libertyville also received seven kills from Molly Lyon and four from Elle Knight. Charlie Fleegle added 19 digs and two aces. Makenzie Tyrrell had 22 assists and nine digs.

The Whip-Purs’ Jorah Rutter, one of four seniors, added eight kills. Kylie Lambert had 16 assists and two aces.

Huntley def. Mundelein: Not that Huntley’s players necessarily needed an energy lift as it prepared to face Mundelein in a Class 4A McHenry Sectional semifinal.

Just in case, however, several student fans provided it during the Red Raiders’ 25-14, 25-17 win that lifted the team into Thursday’s 6 p.m. final against Libertyville.

The Huntley student fans sat in a corner of the gym, opposite the Red Raiders’ bench. They held a sign on a white poster board reading, “We have a Kentucky commit and you don’t.”

And whenever that Kentucky commit, 6-foot-3 Georgia Watson, pounded a kill, they chanted “Georg-ia Wat-son,” Georg-ia Wat-son.”

“We love them. They’re great,” Watson said. “They bring the energy.”

Which helps.

“For our team, I feel like energy is so important,” Watson said. “We just thrive off energy, and I think having them there just brings it to a whole different level. Our team already has a whole bunch of energy to begin with. Having them there is awesome. We love when they come.”

Huntley (30-8) started quickly, building an 8-3 lead when Alex Goritz floated an ace. Mari Rodriguez also delivered an early ace, and Watson pounded back-to-back kills. Huntley extended its lead to 15-5 on a kill by Diellza Sejdini and took a 24-10 advantage on Izzy Whitehouses’ kill.

“I thought we had a really good warmup, came out focused but relaxed, and I think that’s when we play our best,” Red Raiders coach Karen Naymola said. “Offense was swinging away and making some smart shots.”

Huntley counted five aces, including two by Rodriguez, and had several other serves that disrupted Mundelein (24-14).

“I thought our serving was phenomenal,” Naymola said. “We served really aggressive, and [Mundelein] had a hard time running their offense. They’re a good offensive team, but I thought we did a really good job of taking them out of their offense.”

Mundelein coach Jeff Blezien agreed.

“Especially in that first set, at the beginning, we were sending free balls after free balls after free balls over the net,” Blezien said. “They were able to be system, running a quick offense, and we weren’t really able to block.”

Watson paced Huntley with eight kills and seven digs. Sejdini and Jocelyn Ehrling added seven and five kills, respectively.

“They’re just a really good team,” Blezien said. “You have to take your hats off to Huntley. No. 16 (Watson) is just absolutely amazing, and they just have a balanced attack all over the place.”

Mundelein, which won its first regional championship in 15 years, received six kills from Allison Kampa and four from Norah Emso. Emson and Bella Snow each had four assists.