LAKE FOREST — It’s been a Jekyll-and-Hyde season for the Lake Forest girls volleyball team, and there’s no better example than a recent 48-hour stretch.
On Oct. 7, the Scouts played at Loyola. It was the Ramblers’ senior night, but the road team seized the spotlight, winning the match 25-19, 26-24.
“Loyola had five seniors. We came out and rolled right over them,” coach Steve Rochon said. “It was one of those glimpses of how good this team can be.”
Notice Rochon’s use of the word glimpse.
Two days later, the Scouts once again were the road team on Carmel’s senior night. This time the Corsairs did the rolling, cruising 25-11 in the first game. Although Lake Forest trimmed a nine-point deficit to two in the second game, the Scouts lost 25-21.
The energy so prevalent against Loyola was missing at Carmel. This sequence of matches is not isolated. A three-match stretch over six days in September saw the Scouts go 2-1. The only blemish was a three-game loss to Libertyville, recently named the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Glenbrook North Sectional. But the following week, Lake Forest, a No. 17 seed, lost matches to Warren and Barrington on successive nights.
Why the disjointed level of play?
“We are a young team,” senior outside hitter Jenna Dethlefsen said. “Some nights we’re awesome and some nights we are iffy. We are working on that.”
Dethlefsen was the only senior to start against Carmel. Lake Forest’s roster is loaded with sophomores. Six see significant playing time: setter Emma Patlovich, libero Brigid Brennan, outside hitter Meghan McGrail, middle hitter Claire Torkelsen and opposite hitter Ashley Williams.
One way to accelerate the growth of young players is to practice for match situations.
“We’ve been doing a lot of drills where we start 22-17, and we have to finish,” Dethlefsen said, adding the team has struggled at times to hold leads. “Even if you have a little bit of leeway, we can’t let [opponents] back in.”
Rochon added: “We’ve looked for ways to cut back on mistakes. A lot of that is a product of age and experience and the other is volleyball is a game that is a product of mistakes.”
On Saturday, two days after the Carmel match, Lake Forest played in the Elaine Lonergan Memorial Tournament hosted by Antioch. The Scouts looked like the team that almost beat Libertyville. A 4-1 record included straight-game wins over host Antioch, Rolling Meadows and Zion-Benton. Lake Forest’s only loss was in the championship game against Crystal Lake Central.
Dethlefsen (36 kills, four blocks), McGrail (27 kills) and Torkelson (19 kills, eight blocks and two aces) were named to the all-tournament team.
The spirited performance leads to this question: What Scouts team will show up when the postseason begins Oct. 27?
“They’ve played so well at times, I’ve pushed them to be a little ahead of schedule,” Rochon said. “The competitor in me gets the itch and thinks we are ahead of the curve.”
