Lyons Township High School senior libero Kate Heatherly enjoyed a breakthrough 2024 girls volleyball season in which she earned Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association Class 4A honorable mention all-state honors. This season, she’s determined to contribute even more.
“I’ve definitely improved in all of the ways, but I feel like also coming as a senior I’m going to be more of a leader,” Heatherly said. “I feel like in my eyes everyone’s equal and I’m just really working on being a good teammate this year and kind of helping in that way.”
The Lions’ experienced and talented roster is driven to give that little extra to make last year’s 19-17 season an even better one in 2025.
The Lions have eight returning starters – Heatherly, seniors Emma O’Brien, Molly Eskra, Madison Jones and Corinne Yanzy and juniors Taylor Carroll, Colleen Chambers and Julia Ahrens. Seniors Anabelle Olson and Kate Potter also are varsity returnees.
“We have a lot of returning athletes. They know what to expect. They know what to expect in practice. They know what to expect in matches, especially our strength of schedule,” LTHS coach Jill Bober said.
Especially early, Bober also plans to explore the talents of varsity newcomers. That includes juniors Hannah Fuller, Sophia Jackson, Avery Lee, Blake Spreyne and Avery Tyrrell, sophomore Ula Garbauskas and freshman Olivia Pora.
“I think our defense is going to be a lot better. The outsides and pins are going to be really good, too,” said Olson, a setter. “[I plan to] bring a competitive mindset to the court and keep up the good energy and just have a good mindset throughout the whole season.”
Last year’s 25-16, 27-29, 25-19 loss to West Suburban Conference Silver Division rival Oak Park and River Forest in the 3A LT Regional final was a microcosm of the season. The loss snapped the Lions’ streak of regional titles at three and came after a two-set regular-season victory over the Huskies. It was the team’s 11th loss in 15 three-set matches. Five teams that beat the Lions in two sets were regional champions.
“We kind of got out early [in the regional] but I think everyone’s come back a lot stronger,” Heatherly said. “I think that’s motivating us this year. We don’t want to be neck and neck [in matches]. We want to push through and show that we’re the better team. Last year we were on the edge so many times.”
In 2024, Heatherly progressed from defensive specialist as a sophomore to a team-best 331 digs and 42 service aces as the libero. Ahrens (155 digs) and Eskra (144) also were solid in the back row.
Heatherly shared honorable mention all-state and All-WSC Silver honors with graduated LTHS outside hitter Maddie Richard. The Lions tied for third in the Silver with OPRF and York at 3-3.
“I knew [becoming libero] was going to be stressful but [all-state] was kind of showing a success not just for me but the team. It felt pretty good,” Heatherly said.
The 6-foot-1 Carroll (249) was a close second in kills to Richard (262) and 6-1 Division I basketball recruit O’Brien (99) and Yanzy (73) and Jones (54) were fourth through sixth. Yanzy (65) and Jones (38) were top two in total blocks. Yanzy will be sidelined by a knee injury until at least October.
Chambers had 572 assists and 132 digs mostly engineering a one-setter offense but sometimes a two-setter offense with graduated Kate Badrov, who was injured most of 2024.
Bober said an improved Olson continues the option of an effective two-setter offense. As a club player, Olson joined Sports Performance Volleyball last season.
“[I’ve improved] with consistency a lot and running a faster tempo,” Olson said. “Switching clubs helped me improve with playing on a better team with a more competitive schedule.”
The question will be whether the Lions can take that next step with the help of improved talk.
“Communication is something we’re really emphasizing this pre-season, making sure that we’re communicating on, off the court,” Bober said. “I know that sounds very simple but that’s going to be a huge key for us. I think that is something we need to work on. The level of play is there. We need more communication.”