Libertyville senior outside hitter Braden Moss was on his back, under the net, seconds after playing the volleyball match of his life.
Moss and his teammates were celebrating when senior middle hitter Nate Knight bumped him.
“Nate pushed me, and I stepped on some sweat,” Moss said.
For the Wildcats, there was plenty to sweat out as they rallied to beat Wheaton North 23-25, 25-19, 25-21 in a state quarterfinal in Bolingbrook on Friday.
Moss led the way, recording a career-high 15 kills with a .429 hitting percentage, five digs and an ace for Libertyville (32-3), which will play Glenbard West (37-2) in a state semifinal at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Senior outside hitter Connor Desiron added 10 kills, senior outside hitter Lukas Slesers had eight and Knight had seven, and junior setter Andrew Hodge had 33 assists. Senior libero Jackson Kern contributed 11 digs against the Falcons (35-6).
Moss entered the match with the fourth-most kills on the team, so he was excited to be able to pace the Wildcats’ win.
More Top Picks Best Japanese Knives For Home Cooks
“It was great to be efficient,” he said. “I once had 17 kills in a club match, but nothing like this on the varsity.”
Moss, who will attend Missouri to work on an engineering degree, won’t play in college. So this is his last weekend of competitive volleyball.
“Most of our starting players are playing in college, and I’m not,” he said. “I was thinking this was our biggest game, and I had to come out swinging.”
Libertyville coach Jenny Smith was glad to see that.
“Braden was a star,” she said. “All year, he’s been a balanced part of our offense. But we’ve always know he had it in him to take it over.
“Maybe they underestimated him. He had an opportunity and took it.”
Moss had seven kills in the first set, which the Wildcats lost.
“If we would have lost the match, it wouldn’t have been the best game ever, but I would still be happy with how I performed,” he said.
Despite having the momentum after winning the second set, the Wildcats were down 12-10 in the third before they mounted a comeback.
“It was super important for us to rally back,” Kern said. “We were understanding and trusting of each other. Even though we were down a few points, we knew we could come back. We were ready for them, and we finished it out.”
Libertyville will bring a trophy home for the second time after finishing fourth in 2022.
This group didn’t sneak up on anyone. After going 31-5 last year, the Wildcats breezed through the regular season with only a couple of hiccups, winning their first 13 matches before being stopped by Schaumburg on April 25 and then winning 11 straight matches before suffering back-to-back losses to Glenbard West and Maine South on May 9.
The Wildcats have won another eight in a row heading into the state semifinals.
“Most of us have played together since we were young,” Moss said. “We started playing when we were 13. We’ve been playing forever, and we have a lot of chemistry.”
Moss said he started playing the sport when he was 11 and followed in his brother Ben’s footsteps. Ben Moss played volleyball for Libertyville and, after he graduated in 2020, attended Missouri for engineering.
Braden Moss said he’ll miss the sport after this weekend.
“I love the fast pace and how whenever you make an error, your team is right behind you,” he said. “You can reset, and you have to have a goldfish memory to keep moving forward and to keep pushing.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter.