Shanahan helps Buffalo Grove past Elk Grove

Buffalo Grove boys volleyball coach Tim Kosiek says senior Kevin Shanahan brings more to the table than just exceptional skills.

"He's an extraordinary leader," said Kosiek of Shanahan. "Kevin is all about the team. He doesn't care a bit about his own stats."

Thursday night at Elk Grove, Shanahan helped the Bison overcome a tough second-game loss, hitting 6 of his 10 kills in the third set as BG defeated the host Grenadiers 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 in Mid-Suburban East play.

Both the Bison and Grens expect to be at or near the top of the East standings when all is said and done, so that made the BG road win in hot conditions in the Elk Grove gym all the more impressive.

"Elk Grove has some big middles and a three-year varsity setter (Ray Kraus)," said Shanahan, "so we knew we were in for a test.

"We were a little disappointed when we lost the second game but we kept our heads up and were able to regroup. Coach Kos tells us to expect every match in the MSL to go three games, so be ready and be pleasantly surprised if you're able to win in two."

Kevin Braceros led Elk Grove from the service line with 4 aces on 18-of-21 serving.

"He played great," said Grens coach Dan Windholz. "He kept us in the match."

The first set was tied at 23 when a perfectly placed kill by Zach Schnittker gave the Bison (11-3, 2-0) the advantage, then an Elk Grove hitting error handed BG the game.

The Grens rallied in set two to force another 23-23 tie before, then a block kill from Elk Grove's Sam Jasutis and a BG mistake knotted up the match.

"The guys didn't quit," said Windholz. "We did some very good things tonight."

A reversed call on the first point of the deciding game gave the momentum to BG and seemed to rattle the Grens. Elk Grove thought it had grabbed a quick lead when a BG hit went out, but the ball was ruled to be tipped.

"That definitely set the tone for game three," said Windholz, "but that's something we can't let happen. We've got to learn to fight through things like that."

BG ran out to a 10-2 lead, shook off a mild mid-game rally by the Grens (7-2, 1-1), and won the match when a dig from Shanahan led to a final kill by teammate Alex Franz. Athan Cruz led the Bison with 17 kills.

"I was impressed with the way our guys kept their composure," said Kosiek. "They didn't get overwhelmed, and even when they got down they were able to battle back."

Kraus had 25 assists for Elk Grove.

"We've played some tough teams already this year," said Windholz, "but tonight I don't think that we were ready to play at the level that BG plays at. They're a really good team, but our guys played well and I thought we actually could have gotten out of here with a two-game win."

"The bottom line is we've got some things we've got to clean up."

Barrington d. Conant: The Broncos improved to 2-0 in the MSL West with a 25-22, 25-18 victory over an improved Conant team.

Nikola Todorov had a team-best 5 kills for the Cougars, while Tim Breiter and Nick Pope both had 10 digs and Nate Armando had 10 assists.

Rolling Meadows d. Wheeling: The Mustangs improved to 2-2 overall after a 25-17, 25-18 victory over the Wildcats.

Tommy Murphy was a force for Meadows with a match-best 12 kills on 25-for-27 hitting along with 5 digs. Other big contributors included Jeff Waisganis (3 kills), Jose Cruz (6 digs), Zack DeRamos (5 aces on 15-for-17 serving) and Enrique Avellaneda (14 assists).

Leaders for Wheeling (1-6, 0-2) included Matt Schiferl (12 digs), Juan Salgado (11 digs), Albert Flores (3 kills) and Kyle Bagarella (3 kills, 7 assists, 6-for-7 serving).

Palatine d. Schaumburg: The host Pirates got a team-best 7 kills from Ryan Campbell, 5 digs from Andrew Padilla and 8 assists from Tyler Kendzior in a 25-23, 25-12 decision. Jake Boldog also contributed 4 digs and 3 assists for Palatine.

Fremd d. Hoffman Estates: The Vikings notched their first MSL West victory by topping the Hawks 25-16, 23-25, 25-12.

Tyler Larson (9 kills) and Ben Zimmerman (8) led the Fremd attack, while Patrick Kurka had a team-best 19 digs, Eduardo Amador and Larson served 3 aces and Amador had 16 assists.

Hersey d. Prospect: The Huskies won a whopper of a matchup, prevailing 28-30, 27-25, 25-20 in MSL East play to earn their first divisional win of the season.

Bart Migus led the attack for Hersey (6-2 overall) with 10 kills and also had a team-best 14 digs, while Peter Wesolowski had 27 assists along with 4 blocks and 2 kills and Kevin Messer added 13 digs.