Clean sweep for Vernon Hills
Vernon Hills’ boys volleyball team did more than avenge a pair of losses to Stevenson this season Saturday at Glenbrook North.
The Cougars also beat another team, Barrington, seeded ahead of them in the sectional.
They won the championship, too.
Vernon Hills completed a 5-0 showing in the tourney by outlasting Barrington 25-22, 25-22 in the final. The Cougars’ other Saturday victims were Evanston (25-14, 25-18) in the quarterfinals and Stevenson (25-17, 25-19) in the semifinals.
Vernon Hills (22-4) defeated Oak Park and Notre Dame on Friday night.
“This was a great weekend of play for our guys, beating the two teams seeded just ahead of us in the sectional,” Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry said. “Our offense is getting more sophisticated as the season progresses, we’re serving better and, best of all, we’re learning and adjusting during matches. We were down five to Barrington in the first set but managed to adjust our defensive positioning and attack mentality on the fly.”
With the Cougars missing a starter, David Swanson moved from libero to left front and was “tremendous all day, bringing his great floor defense to six rotations and attacking so smart all day,” Curry said.
Robbie Appelbaum took over as libero. Curry said the senior played “tenacious defense, and his serve receive was spectacular all weekend.”
Senior setter Justin Opitz was named to the all-tournament team, setting a ridiculous .493 (222 of 223, 111 assists).
“He played the best defense we’ve seen out of him in three years and spread the ball around so intelligently to all the hitters,” Curry said.
Senior middle blocker Garrett Kubacki was also named to the all-tournament team, leading the Cougars in aces (8) and digs (36) to go along with his 32 kills (. 450 efficiency).
Senior Joseph Ho had what Curry called his best run of the year, with 12 block kills in the middle. Junior Thomas Robinson also had 12 block kills to go with his 41 attack kills.
Junior Martin Niemczewski was “almost unstoppable” from the right side, Curry said. getting 33 kills on .444 efficiency.
Stevenson (25-4) went 4-1 in the tournament and placed Zachary Kravits on the all-tournament team.
Kravits lofted 20 assists on 37-of-37 setting in the Patriots’ tourney-ending, 25-17, 28-26 win over Glenbrook North. Nik Antonijevic and Kravits each had 5 kills.