Nenn, Barrington rise up against Schaumburg

Halfway through the Mid-Suburban League boys volleyball season, Barrington is right where it wants to be: Undefeated in conference play, and in first place in the West Division.

Led by senior defensive specialist Indy Nenn (10 digs), the Broncos scored a resounding 25-16, 25-17 victory over visiting Schaumburg on Tuesday in a battle of teams that both came in to the match with 4-0 conference records.

"I thought Indy played great tonight," said Barrington coach Rob Ridenour of Nenn. "His serve receive was outstanding. He makes his teammates better, which is a good thing for a libero."

For his part, Nenn said a driving force for the Broncos this season is the memory of last year, when Barrington lost the MSL West crown to Palatine on the basis of just 1 aggregate point.

"We know that every point matters," said Nenn, "so we have to go as hard as we can every time out, in practice and in games."

Schaumburg held an early lead in the first set, but the tide turned on consecutive kills by Barrington hitters Connor Wright and Colin Castagna, which gave the home team a 12-11 advantage.

The Bronocs (12-5, 5-0) ran off 9 of the next 12 points, and closed out game one on a kill by junior Adam Glader.

"To be honest," said Ridenour, "for the most part this season the guys haven't had that mindset that every point counts - but tonight they did."

The second set was all Barrington as the Broncos doubled up Schaumburg 12-6 after an ace by senior Carl Lenling, who finished with 2 service aces, both in set two.

The Saxons could get only as close as 5 points down the rest of the way as Castagna (match high 9 kills) closed out the contest with the most authoritative spike of the night for the win.

"Coach 'R' is constantly stressing to us how we lost conference y one point last year," said Wright, who hit 6 kills and had 8 digs.

"We know we have to compete on every point," added Wright, "and we try to come into every match with that mentality."

Schaumburg (15-6, 4-1) was led by libero Jacob Dietrich, who was 16-of-17 passing, but Saxons coach Jeff O'Brien said his team gave far from its best effort Tuesday.

"This might have been the worst I've seen us play all season," said O'Brien. "We've been on a roll lately, but tonight were not precise.

"I don't really know the reason for that, but I do know that how we reacted to mistakes was not how we should have. We were reacting negatively instead of positively. We should have forgotten about the mistakes and just moved on to the next point."

Junior setter Noah Ricchetti recorded 19 assists for Barrington.

"Our coaches tell us that to be the best we can be," said Nenn, "we've got to be serious about going out there and doing our best - and I was very proud of our team tonight. We didn't let up for a minute."

Hersey d. Elk Grove: The Huskies kept their hold on first place in the MSL East with a 25-23, 25-16 victory against the Grens.

Bart Migus and Matt Torvik had 6 kills apiece for the Huskies (12-1, 5-0), and Torvik added 13 assists.

Senior Sam Ostlin led the attack for Elk Grove (8-9, 2-3) with 8 kills while Ray Kraus had 16 assists and Karl Freidenfelds had 11 digs.

Prospect d. Meadows: Prospect used a strong performance to get past the Mustangs 25-17, 25-16.

Eryk Krzyzak had 8 kills and Grant Andlers 7 for the winners, who improved to 10-7 overall and 4-1 in the MSL East.

Tom Srnak and Tommy Murphy had 3 kills each and Enrique Avellaneda had 4, and Jose Cruz had a team-best 10 digs.

Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: The visiting Bison produced a 25-13, 25-15 decision in MSL East action.

Wheeling's top producers were Jeremy Schultz (5 kills), Alex Kais (8 digs) and Nick Stephani (4 digs).

Fremd d. Conant: The Vikings bounced back after falling 25-18 in the first set to top the Cougars in the second two, 25-21 and 25-17.

Aaron Kent and Austin Park both finished with 7 kills and Tim Vandon had 6 for Fremd (6-10, 2-3). Justin Chon served 7 aces for the Vikings and Eduardo Amado had 6.

Maine East d. Maine West: Mike Gorski had 7 kills and Ryan VanWees had 5 to lead the attack for Maine West (2-8, 0-2), but it wasn't enough against Maine East in 25-9, 25-23 decision in Central Suburban North play.