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Fast-starting Lake Park leaves Barrington behind

Memories of slow starts were haunting Lake Park when the Lancers took to the court in Tuesday's boys volleyball sectional final against Barrington at Conant.

"So many times this year we've lost game one of matches, only to come back and win," said Lancers coach Tim Murphy. "We knew we couldn't do that tonight.

"Both teams were fired up, there was a lot at stake and I knew Rob (Ridenour, Broncos coach) would have his players ready. But we've got 11 seniors on this team who refuse to lose."

And backed by a large crowd, which was roaring on almost every point, Lake Park reversed recent history by storming out of the gate.

The Lancers built up big leads in both sets and hung on for a 25-17, 25-21 sectional title victory.

"This is awesome" said Lake Park senior Quin Krisik, whose team will move on to play New Trier in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at 1 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School. "We stressed how important it was to get off to a good start. We began tonight's game like it was the end of the game, forgot about who we were playing and focused on what was happening on our side of the net."

Krisik had 19 assists and 9 digs for the Lancers (32-6), while senior Colin Castagna led Barrington on attack with 9 kills.

"We didn't play our best," said Ridenour. "But I give a lot of credit to Lake Park. They came out with a lot of energy.

"I thought we had some good moments but they (the Lancers) made a ton of plays down the stretch."

Lake Park took control of game one early and went on a 9-1 run midway through to take the match lead.

The Lancers took a commanding lead in Game 2 as well.

But after a disputed call went against Barrington, the Broncos fought back with 5 straight points to take a 19-18 lead.

"I thought we were going to win," Castagna said. "I thought so from the first point to the last point."

Lake Park recovered, and 2 big block kills, one from Sean Moore (6 kills) and one from Shawn Fritsche (team high 7 kills), brought the Lancers to match point.

Barrington rallied but a wide hit by the Broncos - their eighth hitting error of the second set - closed out the match.

"We've been working toward this for a long time," Moore said. "We had a taste of the state tournament two years ago, and we wanted to get back."

Lake Park advanced to the tourney in 2012, only to lose in the quarters to, coincidentally, Barrington.

"I give the credit tonight to our fans, our parents, everybody who was here rooting us on.," Moore added. "They were the ones who brought the energy level up. They were there for us."

Setter Noah Ricchetti earned 19 assists for the Broncos, who went undefeated to win the Mid-Suburban League championship but fell short of their state title goal.

It'll be the third time in four years that a team from the MSL has not advanced to the Elite Eight, a rarity for one of the best conferences in volleyball.

"I thought we had a successful season," said the Loyola-bound Castagna. "We worked our butts off, and the younger guys gained a lot of experience.

"This was a tough match - Lake Park just outworked us tonight. I don't think everybody came out ready to play."

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