Senior Kamryn Lee-Caracci and her Lyons Township High School girls volleyball teammates appeared comfortably in control Oct. 4 at York, just two points from victory.
Moments later, the Lions needed two big kills from Lee-Caracci just to survive.
The Lions fought off two match points in rallying for a 21-25, 25-11, 28-26 victory to remain tied atop the West Suburban Conference’s Silver Division.
The defending WSC Silver champions, LTHS (21-3, 4-0) played Glenbard West (17-9, 4-0) on Oct. 11 after the Landmark’s deadline for at least a share of the title.
LTHS faced defeat at 24-23 and 26-25 in the third set after leading 23-18.
“I wouldn’t say it was a victory we should be proud of. We put way too much effort that we needed to,” Lee-Caracci said.
York (19-8, 2-2) used a five-point serving streak with two aces and two attack errors for match point at 24-23.
The Lions got the sideout and again when trailing 26-25 with a kill from Lee-Caracci, who delivered again to put the Lions ahead 27-26. LTHS won when York’s free-ball return landed out of bounds.
Junior setter Abby Markworth had a season-high 35 assists. Lee-Caracci’s 18 kills were one shy of her season high.
Other contributions came from Grace Brennan (8 kills, 9 digs), Kiley Mahoney (16 digs, 31 serve receptions, 2 aces), Katie Debs (5 kills, 2 blocks), Annabelle Montgomery (5 kills, 2 blocks), Maggie Kachmarik and Markworth (10 digs each), Grace Turner (2 aces, 2 blocks) and Lee-Caracci (7 digs).
“York came out to win. We woke up when we decided to wake up and actually start playing volleyball,” LTHS coach Jill Bober said.
LTHS boys soccer
LTHS is the No. 1 seed for the IHSA Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional, playing No. 16 Kenwood on Oct. 18 with the winner facing No. 9 Riverside-Brookfield or No. 8 Argo in the Oct. 21 regional final.
The Lions (12-4-3, 3-2 in West Suburban Silver) had their conference titles hopes thwarted by losing at defending Class 3A state champion York 1-0 on Oct. 6 after losing to Oak Park and River Forest 5-4 on penalty kicks that settled a 1-1 tie Oct. 4.
The Dukes (14-0-3, 5-0) have clinched the WSC Silver title outright, their first since 2008.
Against OPRF (12-3, 4-2), the Lions tied the match in the second half with Brian Salvino scoring and Ben Swicionis assisting.
Salvino, Haris Sarajlija, Larry Martinez Jr. and Patrick Kracker converted their penalty kicks.
LTHS girls tennis
The Lions will play host to the IHSA Class 2A LTHS Sectional on Oct. 14-15.
The Lions finished fifth on Oct. 8 at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division meet (17 points) at Glenbard West and fifth in the final overall standings. LTHS, Oak Park and River Forest (30) and Glenbard West (22) entered the meet tied for third with 3-3 dual records.
Sophomore Addison Pelling (No. 3 singles) and sophomore Ashley Culin and freshman Rhea Nagale (No. 4 doubles) finished fourth. Sophomores Mia Graziano and Ginny Gibbs (No. 1 doubles), junior Scarlette Rahman (No. 2 singles) and seniors Anna Hudson and Allyssa Wong (No. 3 doubles) were fifth.
LTHS cross country
The LTHS girls, ranked No. 4 in IHSA Class 3A by ILXCTF.com, finished third (94 points) and the No. 8-ranked LTHS boys were fourth (106) at Naperville North’s Twilight Invitational on Oct. 5.
Junior Nick Strayer was third in the boys’ race with a personal-best 14 minutes, 49.3 seconds for 3.0 miles, just 2.8 seconds from second.
“That was definitely the goal going into this race, just top five,” Strayer said. “This definitely will go down as a good meet, a step in the right direction.”
Juniors Cillian Henning (7th, 14:55.3) and Aidan Collins (15th, 15:10.9) also earned top-20 individual medals, followed by Michael Ferrell (42nd, 15:44.7), Ruben Guevara (46th, 15:47.6), Matt McGovern (56th, 15:56.0), Maksym Washchuk (57th, 15:56.7), Teddy Coyne (58th, 15:58.2) and Brendan Whalen (60th, 15:59.8).
All were personal bests.
“I was able to get out much better [than my last race] and keep the top pack in my sights at all times,” Henning said.
Senior Catherine Sommerfeld was seventh in the girls’ race (17:34.6). Junior Shannon Cranny (19th, personal-best 18:14.4) also was a medalist, followed by Julianne Melby (24th, 18:18.4), Scarlett Lestina (31st, 18:37.1), Charlotte Lange (36th, 18:41.4) and Anna Bylsma (44th, 18:47.5) with three personal bests.
The Lions compete at the West Suburban Conference Silver Meet on Oct. 15 at Hinsdale’s Katherine Legge Memorial Park.
