Eagles make Lake Forest earn title
Lake Forest celebrates their victory against Lakes in their NSC Championship volleyball match on Wednesday, Oct. 18th. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
Updated: October 19, 2011 9:28PM
Lake Forest won the North Suburban Conference Championship Game for the first time in the 12 years it’s been played and earned a league title for the first time since 1998 on Wednesday night.
But it sure didn’t come easy.
Pesky Lakes seemingly got to every ball, won the first game, and had a match point in the second before the NSC Prairie Division champs succumbed 15-25, 27-25, 25-17 in Lake Villa.
The third game actually was anti-climatic, as Lake Forest made defensive adjustments at the net and blocked for five key points.
“I’m proud of the girls. This is a deep conference,” said Scouts coach Ray Werner. “You have to go through a lot of very talented teams.
“Tonight was a fight. We were not going to win by lining up and straight-wailing away at them. Lakes played the type of floor game where nothing hits the floor easily.”
Lakes completely dominated Game 1, and was right there in Game 2.
Lake Forest was up 24-23, but hit into the net for 24-24. Lakes got to match point when the Scouts hit out, but Anna Schwartz had a kill to tie it at 25-25, and the Scouts won the game when Lakes hit out for 26-25 and the Scouts’ Mary Striedl dinked for the decisive point.
In Game 3, Lake Forest took the lead for good at 9-8 and steadily pulled away.
Lakes coach Molly May could not have been prouder of her team’s effort.
“The girls wanted this match like it was the state championship,” she said. “We have nothing to hang our heads about.
“This program has come a long way. Who would have thought before the season that Lakes volleyball would be playing for a conference championship?”
Lakes is now 22-8, with that win total a school record.
Lake Forest is 25-4. Both teams are headed for the county tournament this weekend at Libertyville and Vernon Hills.
For the winners, Striedl had 10 kills, 3 blocks and 8 digs. Tori Lanzillotti had eight kills.
For Lakes, Emily Aigner had 16 kills and 12 digs, and Sarah Horner had 11 kills.
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