PREP GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Libertyville bounces back with solid effort

It may be early in the season, but Libertyville High's girls volleyball team showed something on Monday night to longtime Wildcats coach Chriz Trzyna. The girls showed they have character.

Coming off a potentially crushing loss to New Trier, Trzyna's squad got right back on the bicycle, so to speak, and defeated pesky Glenbrook North 25-13, 25-22 at home on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (2-1 overall) showed what they're made of by crushing the Spartans in Game 1 and taking a commanding 19-10 lead in the second game before Glenbrook North mounted a rally with the bench players on the court.

After Trzyna reinserted the starters the Wildcats staved off the rally, winning the final three points to complete the straight-set win.

"I couldn't be happier with the way we came out and played tonight," said Trzyna. "They showed a lot of character in rebounding from the New Trier game where we didn't play very well at all."

Libertyville was led by senior setter Erin Demarco , who dished out 19 assists to 5 different hitters to keep the Spartans off track all night.

"Erin did a really good good of distributing the ball all over the court," said Trzyna. "We had a very balanced attack and that's another good sign."

Leading the way for the hitters were Leigha Bystol (6 kills), Emma Mach (5) and Lexie Gibbons (4). The Cats also got three kills apiece from Ali Haws and Maka Stewart. Defensive specialist Emma Melendez also had a nice game, registering 6 service points to go along with a perfect passing night of 16 for 16 and 2 digs.

"We communicated really well," said Trzyna. "We got ourselves caught a little in the second game allowing them to get back in the game but it was nice to see us fight back and finish it the way did."