South Elgin takes 2nd at Hersey

The South Elgin boys volleyball team not only finished second at the Hersey tournament Saturday, the Storm also established a new program record for wins in a season.

Nate Marotta had 43 kills, Mike Vedrine 40 digs and Chris Gibadlo 87 assists and 16 digs to lead South Elgin (18-5) to a 4-1 record on the day. The Storm beat Conant 25-14, 25-21; Lakes 25-16, 15-25, 15-5; York 25-21, 25-19 and St. Viator 26-24, 25-19 before losing to Hersey in the championship match 25-20, 25-18.

"We controlled the ball well most of the day and were able to side out," said South Elgin coach Adam Plach. "At the end of the day we struggled controlling Hersey's jump servers which kept us from really being in system and kept us from getting our offense going. Hersey played a great game and didn't make a lot of mistakes."

Also contributing for the Storm were Owen Bott (14 kills, 18 digs), Ian Sexton (14 kills) and Dan Gibadlo (26 kills).

Bartlett wins consolation title: Mike Gulczynski had 56 kills, 13 digs, 9 aces and 8 blocks and was named to the all-tournament team as he led Bartlett to a 3-2 day and the consolation championship of the Downers Grove North tournament. The Hawks lost to Schaumburg and Downers North before coming back to beat Oak Lawn, the Downers North JV and then Riverside-Brookfield in the consolation title match, Game 2 of that match going to Bartlett in a 38-36 marathon. Jonathan Cruz (52 assists, 5 digs), Ethan Schmitz (39 assists, 8 digs, 4 aces), Joseph Butler (24 digs, 6 assists, 4 aces), Jake Martin (20 kills, 12 digs), Dominik Stanisz (12 kills, 3 blocks) and Ricky Foster (7 blocks, 5 kills) also contributed for Bartlett.