Another positive result for Rolling Meadows
Rolling Meadows junior Tom Srnak might have put it best.
“It’s been a great week,” said Srnak, “for Mustangs volleyball.”
Three days ago, Meadows scored an emotional three-game home court victory over perennial Mid-Suburban East power Buffalo Grove, the first time the Mustangs have defeated the Bison in six years.
Thursday night at Elk Grove, the Mustangs kept the good times rolling with a 25-23, 25-23 win over the host Grenadiers to improve to 3-1 in the division.
“We’ve been spreading the ball around on offense,” added Srnak, “and our defense has been superb.”
Meadows senior libero Peter Nickle led a strong defensive effort with 12 digs, while classmate Kevin Murphy was a force on attack from his outside hitter position with a match-high 13 kills.
“We’ve got a lot of returning players on this year’s team,” said Murphy, “so we know what we’re doing. Our confidence is sky high.”
Jake Gatziolis hit 7 kills for the Grens.
“Our league is just so strong from top to bottom,” said Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz. “That’s why you’re seeing so many close games this season.”
“We played well at times tonight,” added Windholz, “but at times we fell apart. The guys were looking around for someone to step up.”
Meadows trailed through much of the first set but the momentum turned when a brilliant cross-court kill by sophomore Enrique Avellaneda fired up the Mustangs.
Elk Grove recovered to grab a 23-21 advantage but the Mustangs scored the next 4 points to take the set, highlighted by a game-winning double block by Avellaneda and David Sobkowicz.
“We dropped a match earlier in the season to Prospect,” said Nickle, “and that showed us that we weren’t invincible. After that loss we dedicated ourselves to working even harder in practice, and pushing harder in games.”
Meadows came out with a big push in the second set and took a 5-point lead midway through after a dink from Sobkowicz.
The Grens (10-6, 1-3) fought back and were on the verge of tying the set when a let ace by Matt McKenna trickled over the net to bring Elk Grove within 24-23.
Then the Mustangs took the next point on a Grens error to claim the victory.
Elk Grove’s Karl Freidenfelds, whose stellar play “kept us in the match in the second set,” according to Windholz, finished with 2 aces.
Setter Brett Frey was 56-of-57 for Meadows with 25 assists while teammates Murphy and Sean O’Neill were both 10-for-10 on serve receive.
“That win against Buffalo Grove,” said Nickle, “gave us a great confidence boost and we’re building on that.”
“We all know what we can do,” added Murphy. “The most important thing is that we trust each other.
Schaumburg d. Hoffman Estates: The visiting Saxons rolled to a 25-24 win in the first set before edging the Hawks 26-24 in the second.
Cameron Nolan (5 kills), Brad Norris and Romario Rios (4 kills each) and Stephen Knitter (3) led the attack for Schaumburg (10-4, 3-1 MSL West) and Nidhin Thomas had 10 assists.
The top attacker for Hoffman Estates was Jovi Pablo with 6 kills. Ryan Seong contributed 15 digs and Noman Baig 14 for the Hawks.
Buffalo Grove d. Hersey: Host Buffalo Grove won 25-13 in the first set, fell to visiting Hersey 27-25 in the second and bounced back 25-20 in the third to claim an MSL East victory.
Evan Bunnetto had a team-high 14 kills for BG, which also had strong hitting efforts from Athan Cruz (8 kills) and Nikita Baulaski (7). Chris Szewczyk had 21 assists, Kevin Shanahan had 6 and Mike Maley produced 17 digs for the Bison (8-8, 3-1).
Bart Migus had 11 kills and Kevin Schroeder 8 for the Huskies. Matt Torvik was 52-for-53 setting with 17 assists, Mike Fuerst had 3 blocks and Fotis Christacos had 17 digs.
Palatine d. Conant: Kyle Obernesser directed an efficient Palatine attack with 45-of-47 setting and 21 assists as the host Pirates prevailed 25-14, 25-17 in MSL West play.
Brian Keough (7 kills) and Danny Matijevic led Palatine attack, and Christian Frahm had 9 digs.
Conant’s top performers were Mark Tormuta (6 digs), Joe Dahm (2 blocks), Pete Chung (3 kills) and JT Levitt (6 assists).
Prospect d. Wheeling: The host Knights delivered another impressive performance in a 25-18, 25-21 decision against the Wildcats.
Grant Andler had a team-best 7 kills for the Knights (6-9, 3-1) along with 4 block kills. Senior Curtis Glennon was 8-of-9 serving with 3 aces, and Mark Mir (13 assists) and Jacob Schwister (10 assists) directed the offense.
Top contributions for Wheeling (6-8-1, 0-4) came from Zack Nauert (9 kills, 8 digs) and Eric Ruttenberg (21 assists).
Barrington d. Fremd: The host Broncos produced a dominant effort in claiming an MSL West victory as Charlie Spry (7 kills), Kevin Eiring (5) and Colin Castagna (5) led the attack and Tommy Soifer (11 assists) and Noah Ricchetti (10) orchestrated the offense.
Peter Van Fossan (4 blocks), Carl Lenling (8 digs) and Ben Karon (5 digs) also had big numbers for Barrington.
St. Viator d. Fenton: The host Lions (11-4) won their second straight home nonconference match handily as Ben Wolf (10 kills) and Ethan Wolf (6 kills) led the attack. Kyle Knox (4 assists) and Brennan Harrington (9 assists) ran the offense, and Ben Wolf had 7 digs.