Maine West’s girls volleyball team evened its record in the Central Suburban North with a 25-21, 25-19 victory over visiting Highland Park on Wednesday night inn Des Plaines.

The Warriors (12-8, 3-3) were led by Jessica Riedl’s 10 kills and 8 digs while teammates Reilly Olson and Amanda Grzebien each served 4 aces.

Libertyville d. Stevenson: Libertyville is in the driver’s seat of the North Suburban Conference girls volleyball race.

Among the key passengers on that runaway bus are dynamite setter Anna Lillydahl, that smart blocker from Texas, Haley Stevenson, and a defensive star in the back row, Morgan O’Brien.

Wednesday’s key NSC matchup took place at Stevenson on Wednesday night. The Patriots made a late run at the unbeaten-in-conference Wildcats, but the Cats (18-6, 5-0) prevailed in two sets 25-16, 25-21.

And oh goodness, did this Libertyville team block at the net. It wasn’t pretty for the Patriots.

“We watched a lot of film on them,’’ Lillydahl noted. “And we practiced so hard.”

Lillydahl, dished out 16 assists, added 6 blocks and added 3 kills.

“We felt we were ready for this match,’’ said Stevenson, a force at the net with 8 kills and 5 blocks.

The Patriots (21-5) never led in set one.

With Lauren Hall serving for Libertyville, the Cats took control. Hall registered 2 aces. Caroline Frea (5 kills, 5 blocks) notched a kill. Madi O’Brien joined in on the kill parade and Anna Valente (7 kills) notched a block as the Cats went up 13-7.

“We blocked well,’’ said Libertyville coach Greg Loika. “And we kept the pressure on. We did a pretty good job with the game plan.”

With Sam Albright serving, Libertyville pushed the lead to 21-12. Stevenson registered back-to-back kills. Lillydahl found an opening on the court for another kill.

Stevenson coach Tim Crow saluted the work of the Wildcats.

“It’s nice to have good athletes with good length,’’ Crow said. “We knew coming in that they would try to triple block us. And our serve reception was off tonight.”

Set two started off as if the Cats would dominate another set. Valente notched another kill, and Libertyville’s Stevenson again dominated at the net. It was 13-5 Libertyville.

With budding star Sophie Sorenson notching a few kills for the Patriots, the Libertyville lead started to shrink. In fact, the Pats grabbed a late lead at 17-16.

“We made some errors,’’ Lillydahl said.

Stevenson, the blocker, gave credit to the home team.

“They played well,” she said, “and made up some ground on us.”

This time it was the libero, O’Brien, at the serving line for the Cats. Lillydahl notched a gorgeous kill to start the rally. Stevenson and Madi O’Brien (no relation to Morgan) also had kills. The Libertyville lead had been restored to 21-18.

Stevenson slugger Jori Radtke (8 kills) slammed down a kill to prevent the Cats from putting this set away before Lillydahl completed the two-set sweep with yet another kill.

Sorenson and Hope Havenhill both checked in with 3 kills each. Setter Alex Cuc had 13 assists for the Pats. Radtke led the defensive effort as well with 5 digs. Chloe Robinson (5 digs) and Sorenson (5 digs) also helped out.

— Bill Pemstein

Girls golf

Libertyville wins NSC: Missing a teammate didn’t mean Libertyville’s girls were going to miss out on winning another conference golf championship.

“We’re hoping the others pull through,” senior Simone Mikaelian said as she waited for teammates to finish their rounds. “I tried to get my score as low as I could to help out.”

Mikaelian delivered, and so did the Wildcats. Mikaelian shot a 4-over-par 76 and was the only golfer to break 80, as Libertyville captured the North Suburban Conference title at Bonnie Brook Golf Course in Waukegan on Wednesday.

It was the third NSC championship in a row for the Wildcats, who were minus Megan Sturonas and will be for the state tournament. The senior, who along with Mikaelian led Libertyville downstate last year and is a four-year varsity member, was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons, coach Greg Pedersen said.

Even without Sturonas, the Wildcats still shot a 345, 11 strokes better than runner-up Warren (356).

“I think we all were just trying to shoot our best score and try to get as low as we possibly could,” Libertyville junior Colby Roberts said. “We obviously miss her, but it’s not something that we really thought about.”

Libertyville also won the overall conference championship. Because the Wildcats lost to Lake Forest during dual-meet action, they needed to win the tournament and have Lake Forest place no better than third in order to claim the overall title. That’s what happened, as the Scouts (361) finished 5 shots behind Warren in third place.

Warren was led by senior Kelsey Campbell, who finished in second place with an 83, 7 strokes behind Mikaelian on a day that featured a variety of weather that made it tough to post good scores.

Mikaelian played about six holes in a rain heavy enough that she had to pull out her umbrella.

“It was fine at first and then it got really bad — wet, cold,” Mikaelian said.

“It got really, really windy at one point,” Campbell said. “Then you had to guess what club to hit and hope for the best. I got lucky a couple of times today.”

Mikaelian was at 2-over par heading to her last hole, No. 9, but she three-putted for a double-bogey 6. Her lone birdie came on the par-5 first, as she drained a 7-footer.

Campbell’s second-place finish was the highest ever for a Warren golfer at conference. She sank a 20-foot putt for birdie on No. 11.

“That (83) was my best (score) here, so it was a good day,” said Campbell, who was playing Bonnie Brook for the third time this season with her teammates. “My putting was a lot better than it has been. I made putts when I needed to make them, instead of making three-putts.”

Stevenson freshman Joyce Bai took third with an 86. Her stellar season has included a 72 at Vernon Hills Golf Course.

“I definitely could have done better this time,” Bai said. “I think it was just nerves. I tensed up a lot and made a lot of stupid mistakes.”

Besides Campbell, Warren also got medal-winning efforts from Annika Johnson (seventh, 89), Danielle Guzman (eighth, 89) and freshman Chloe Morrissey (17th, 95).

Stevenson boasted five medal winners in Bai, Olivia Stomberg (11th, 91), Olivia Hancock (14th, 92), Gina Shanley (19th, 97) and Tanya Chanprung (20th, 97). Katie Hannahs (21st, 99) also broke triple digits for the Patriots, who took fourth with a 366 and fourth overall.

Kelsey Kee carded a 90 and placed 10th to pace Lake Zurich (426, fifth). Mundelein’s Isabella Loverde also had a 90 and was ninth.

Lena Benjakul (fifth) and Julia Loghinov (sixth) each shot an 88 to pace Lake Forest, which also counted Isabella Martino’s 92 (15th) and Erin Shalala’s 93 (16th). Olivia Spiega of the Scouts had a 97 to place 18th and earn a medal.

— Joe Aguilar