For senior Reagan Farnan and her Lyons Township High School girls volleyball teammates, grueling three-set matches are the norm this season.
“It’s been tough losing in three sets, but really when we play three sets, we come out strong and play through to the end,” Farnan said. “I think we’re a really strong team, but we just don’t always finish all the way through.”
The Lions are finding that winning mentality at the right time with impressive back-to-back West Suburban Conference Silver Division victories over Oak Park and River Forest, Oct. 8, and at York, Oct. 15.
After the Lions (17-13, 3-2 in Silver) swept OPRF 25-21, 25-22, they outlasted the Dukes 19-25, 25-12, 25-23 for their third victory in 12 three-set matches this season.
“I feel really good about the trajectory of how we’re doing. It’s always been uphill,” LTHS sophomore Taylor Carroll, whose cousin, freshman Eileen Carroll, plays for York.
“We’ve had really good cohesiveness within the team, especially with leadership coming from a bunch of different positions.”
The Lions and Riverside Brookfield (23-10) are the No. 5 and 7 seeds in the Class 4A Willowbrook Sectional. Both are fully capable of exceeding their seeds for a regional title.
The Bulldogs, undefeated champions of the Upstate Eight Conference East Division, open York Regional play against No. 10 Glenbard East (10-23) at 7 p.m., Tuesday with the winner most likely facing the No. 2-seeded Dukes (23-10) at 6 p.m., Oct. 31.
At the LT Regional, the Lions play No. 12 Nazareth (3-26) at 7 p.m., Tuesday, with the winner most likely meeting No. 4 Oak Park and River Forest (17-13) at 6 p.m., Oct. 31. The sectional semifinals are Nov. 5.
“We saw some flashes of greatness against OPRF, a consistent level of play, so I’m hoping that will continue,” LTHS coach Jill Bober said. “We’re staying competitive, which is nice, but we want to stay consistent and competitive.”
On Saturday, the Bulldogs fittingly defeated the Lions 25-16, 18-25, 16-14 for fifth place overall at the Maine West Pumpkin Tournament. Including Friday’s pool play, RBHS went 4-1 at the tournament.
Senior Sofia Owens leads RBHS with 196 kills and 54 blocks, and junior setter Claire Cameron has 577 assists, 180 digs and 59 aces. Cameron surpassed 1,000 career assists during Thursday’s victory over Leyden.
Returning starters Carroll and senior Maddie Richard lead the Lions in kills. But after graduating a huge and talented senior class, several less experienced varsity players have stepped up big.
Junior libero Kate Heatherly leads the team in aces and digs, sophomore Colleen Chambers leads in assists and junior Corinne Yanzy leads in blocks.
Around this time last season, Heatherly was promoted to varsity libero from the sophomore team. She bolstered the back-row defense, led by graduated all-state libero Kiley Mahoney.
“I didn’t play libero in club [last offseason]. It was a big transformation switching positions and more of a leadership role being [on the court] all of the time,” Heatherly said. “It hasn’t been much of a challenge because everyone’s been really supportive.”
The victory over OPRF also was significant as the Lions’ first match after sidelined senior hitter/setter and captain Kate Badrov broke her left thumb the night before against Metea Valley during warmups. Badrov actually played three rotations before the pain became too intense.
“She’s managing the injury well and stepping up in a captain’s role. She’s still been on the bench giving insights and calls to our hitters,” Bober said.
As a result, Chambers has been setting a 5-1 offense. Chambers is another of Carroll’s cousins and a volleyball teammate for the first time since they were 10.
“We’ve been talking about that ever since we were in third grade when we realized we were going to the same high school,” Carroll said. “It’s been super-fun to play with her.”