Schools
LT Sports Roundup: Volleyball Team Reaches Sectional Final; Football Team Faces Glenbrook South
The Lyons Township volleyball team advanced to Thursday's Class 4A Whitney Young Sectional final by defeating Hinsdale Central while the football team plays at home Saturday night against Glenbrook South in the second round of the 8A playoffs.
The Lyons Township girls volleyball team surrendered the first point of each set Tuesday but otherwise never trailed its match.
A quick start was among the key components for the Lions as they defeated rival Hinsdale Central 25-18, 25-19 in the Class 4A Whitney Young Sectional semifinals in Chicago.
“We know to start strong. We know to start and build for those first five points,” LT coach Joann Pyritz said. “Even when we were tied in the second game, we know how to come out of that and stay strong and not lose more than a couple of points at the time.”
LT (29-8), the sectional’s No. 1 seed, will play the host No. 6 Dolphins (33-4) for the sectional title Thursday. The start time of the match has been moved from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m., pending IHSA approval.
The sectional champion advances to the Hinsdale South Super-Sectional against Marist or Sandburg at 3 p.m. Saturday in Darien with a downstate berth on the line. LT split two matches with Sandburg during the regular season and defeated Marist in last year's super-sectional.
Leading the Lions Tuesday were seniors Laura Williams (7 kills, 4 aces, 3 assists, 4 digs), Alexis Viliunas (6 kills, 14 assists, ace, 3 solo blocks, 4 digs), Megan Miller (15 digs) and Anna McJohn (block), junior Alyssa Keeve (6 kills, 3 digs, ace), sophomore Catherine King (kill, ace, block) and freshmen Hannah Juley (kill) and back-row player Toni Saracco.
Indiana-bound senior Ally Davis had seven kills and four blocks and senior Katie Grabowski added five kills for No. 5 Hinsdale Central (20-18).
The Red Devils were among six teams to defeat LT this season 26-24, 19-25, 25-21 Oct. 11 in West Suburban Conference Silver Division play. The two teams and Downers Grove North shared second in the Silver behind York. Young defeated No. 2 Downers North 25-20, 25-21 in Tuesday’s second sectional semifinal.
“The first time we played (Hinsdale Central), we started very slow,” Pyritz said. “I think we did some smart things throughout the game (Tuesday). We avoided the blockers. We made adjustments that we needed to make. We spent a lot of times watching Hinsdale Central in the latter portion of the season so that we were informed. The more you know about a team, the better.”
Williams served for nine points, seven of them in her early rotations of both sets. As the Lions’ first server of the first set, she had four points with three consecutive aces as the Lions took a 5-1 lead. She followed Saracco as the Lions’ second server in the second set, collecting three points with an ace to put LT ahead 4-1.
Nevertheless, the Lions only led 15-14 in the first set and were tied 15-15 in the second set before finding another gear to pull away.
“(Williams) gave us quite a few points. We served tough enough to keep us at least tied and then we’d usually break away with three or four points,” Pyritz said. “I think we passed fairly well, had some defensive intensity.”
Hinsdale Central libero Rachael Lenderman served for six straight points to tie the second set 15-15 before serving wide. After a Hinsdale Central attack was ruled out of bounds and not deflect off LT blockers, Viliunas and McJohn combined on a block to put the Lions ahead 18-15. Viliunas later served for three points, all on Hinsdale Central attack errors, to open a 22-17 lead.
Strong net play, including five blocks for points, was important against a potent Hinsdale Central offense led by Davis, the program’s all-time kill and block leader. The Red Devils had 18 kills on 59 attempts for the match.
“We had a couple of key blocks against Ally that really made a big difference because she’s a player that can take that team and move them in to the next few points easily,” Pyritz said. “By putting a couple of key blocks on her, I think that was pivotal.”
Football
The Lyons Township football team will try to reach the Class 8A state quarterfinals for the second year in a row when it plays host to Glenbrook South (8-2) in the second round of the state playoffs at 7 p.m. Saturday in Western Springs.
On Friday, LT (6-4), the No. 13 seed in its half of the bracket, made a tremendous comeback to prevail 45-42 at No. 4 Bartlett. No. 5 Glenbrook South defeated No. 12 New Trier for the second time this season, 27-0.
The Titans lost to second-round playoff team Stevenson 17-15 in Week 2 after the Lions beat the Patriots 24-17 in their season opener. Glenbrook South also lost its regular-season finale to defending 8A state champion Maine South 45-21 with the Central Suburban League South Division title on the line.
In their other nine games, the Titans allowed just 84 points and recorded two shutouts. They have scored at least three touchdowns in every game other than Stevenson.
Glenbrook South lost to Palatine in last year’s second round of the playoffs after reaching the 2009 quarterfinals and losing to Maine South.
The winner of Friday’s game meets No. 1 Loyola Academy (10-0) or No. 9 Dunbar (7-3) in the quarterfinals. LT would be the visiting team in either scenario.
