Battle of the Lakes: Lake Forest Knocks Off Lake Zurich in Girls Volleyball Sectional

When asked how she and her teammates got themselves pumped up for their IHSA sectional girls volleyball match against Lake Zurich, senior Tori Lanzillotti of Lake Forest revealed that the theme was dogs.

Dogs?

“We had a dog house theme. We were playing “Who Let the Dogs Out” on the bus. And we all were different dog characters, like Heidi (Sierks) being Clifford the Big Red Dog. And we also call our school Dog Town,” said Lanzillotti, who finished the night with 10 kills, 8 digs and 2 aces. “It was just our way of getting really amped to play . They’re always such a tough team.”

It worked. The Scouts put down the Bears 25-15, 25-23 to place in Thursday's sectional final against Stevenson at Buffalo Grove High School. It was an especially sweet victory for Lake Forest, who have been trying for a very long time to hang a loss on the Bears.

“You can see how bad they (Lake Zurich) wanted to win,” said Lake Forest coach Ray Werner. “We didn’t want to take our foot off the gas. Lake Zurich has a way of coming back, which you saw in the second game. If you let them, they’ll come right back at you.”

Lake Forest came out playing aggressively right from the start. After Lake Zurich’s Kristen Walding served to start the first game, the Scouts’ Carolyn Hopfinger returned it for a kill. The Bears got back into the game early on when Amanda Orchard delivered a kill, narrowing Lake Forest’s lead to 3-2.

But the Scouts then went on an 8-0 run, which included several return shots by the Bears that bounced into the net. Heidi Sierks made an especially agile assist to set up Jennifer Kreb for a kill and a 9-2 Lake Forest advantage. After the Bears broke the 8-point run, the Scouts tacked on another 3 points, including an aced serve by Mary Striedl. Striedl had a total of 9 kills and a pair of aces on the night.

“We didn’t do anything well tonight,” said Lake Zurich coach Matt Aiello. “We had a number of returned balls that trickled into the net. We also had a number of calls that went against us. But you’ve got to expect that. We didn’t play well and they did. That’s really all there is to it.”

The Scouts never let up in the first game. Lanzillotti’s slamming kill from the left side of the court made the score 14-7, and that was followed by Jennifer Kreb’s kill, a soft angle shot that dribbled past the Bears’ Natalie Gora.

The teams had several extended volleys during the first game, the final one concluding with Hopfinger’s kill for a 24-15 Lake Forest lead.

The second game was a closer contest. After jumping out to a 5-2 lead on the strength of back-to-back kills by Striedl, the Bears pulled to within a point. The Scouts took an 8-5 lead after a fierce volley that included a diving dig by Lake Forest’s Maggie Jacobson and a lurching dig by Lake Zurich’s Ali Summers.

Throughout the game, the Scouts would pull ahead only to have the Bears narrow the gap. Lake Forest reeled off three straight points, including consecutive kills by Lanzillotti, to take a 14-10 lead. They eventually widened the lead to 18-13, but the Bears strung together four straight points, including Amanda Orchard’s kill that eluded Krebs, moving Lake Zurich to within a point.

A couple of misplayed balls by the Scouts saw them cough up the lead, and the Bears forged ahead, 20-19 for their only advantage all evening. The Scouts then tied it, and subsequently took the lead when Orchard’s shot went out of bounds.

Lake Zurich knotted the score several more times, but they were never able to retake the lead.

“The second game was a real dog fight,” said the Scouts' Sierks, staying with the canine theme. When asked about a sensational defensive/offensive play that she pulled off in the first game, when she made a dig and a kill on the same play, Sierks referred to the maneuver as a “bump-kill.”

“It just happened. It’s not a play that happens very often.”

Sierks finished with four other kills besides her amazing “bump-kill".

Lake Zurich’s Amanda Orchard and Lane Self paced their team with 3 kills apiece, and Natalie Gora had 2. Self also had 5 blocks and Ali Summers had 10 digs.