There is nothing glamorous about being a libero.
Nothing.
Lockport junior Lindsey Visvardis knows it, and she just doesn’t care. Bring on the dirty work.
“I’m okay with it because as the libero I know that’s my job,” Visvardis said. “I start the play, and I don’t need to take the credit. I do my job and let the hitters do the rest.”
Hosting Bolingbrook Thursday night in a SouthWest Suburban Blue match, Visvardis finished with 12 digs, but one was most definitely the biggest in the Porters’ 14-25, 25-13, 25-16 win.
Having bounced back from a brutal first set to claim the second, the decisive third was there for the taking. The momentum hung in the air, but unfortunately for Visvardis, it was quickly floating out of bounds.
Off an errant Lockport dig that had the ball heading out of bounds, Visvardis threw herself into the back wall surrounding the court in order to keep the ball alive with her dig.
After one more back and forth volley, Lockport’s Kayla Pfeiffer finished off the play with a huge momentum-shifting kill, Lockport going up 1-0.
Pain? Nope, not for Visvardis.
“I honestly didn’t care,” Visvardis said with a smile. “I knew we needed that point. Every point counts from the first one. It was about getting the momentum and coming out for my team. I knew I could get the ball.”
From there, the third set was never in question. Three Bolingbrook errors, kills from Pfeiffer and Meredith Friscia, and Pfeiffer and Friscia teaming for a block and the route was on.
Lockport (21-13, 5-2) went up 7-1 early, its lead never shrinking to less than six points.
“We were a little emotional early,” Pfeiffer said. “We made mistakes and Bolingbrook didn’t. We knew we had to come into that third game with energy. Lindsey got it started, and the dig was a great boost.”
Rachel Weis (11 digs), Pfeiffer (seven kills, seven assists, six digs), Olivia Witsaman (five kills, two blocks) and MacKenzie Wasowicz (four blocks) paced Lockport.
The Porters similarly lost the first set to Stagg earlier this week only to race back to claim a three-set win.
“We often start games down,” Lockport coach Erika Lange said. “We must like the drama. It’s about the girls deciding what kind of night they want it to be.”
Krissa Gearring’s 14 kills led Bolingbrook (15-18-2, 3-5) with Kennedi Hulittle (three kills, three blocks) contributing.
