Elk Grove rises to the challenge at Hersey

Elk Grove's boys volleyball team was 1 point away from what would have been an extremely disheartening loss Thursday night at Hersey.

Instead, the Grenadiers turned it around and turned it into their biggest victory of the season.

Trailing 24-21 in the third set against the Huskies, Elk Grove rallied for a wild 26-24, 14-25, 27-25 Mid-Suburban East win.

"This is huge," said Grens senior setter Ray Kraus. "This was Elk Grove volleyball at its best. I love these guys and I wouldn't want anyone else along with me."

Hersey coach Nancy Lill naturally had a different take on the outcome.

"The team that would make the fewest errors was going to win this match," said Lill, "and they made less than we did.

"This was a game full of errors. We had the match in hand but we didn't execute at the end. We blew it."

It was Kraus that got Elk Grove going early in the first set, with possibly the defensive play of the year.

Standing 2 feet from the net, Kraus fought off a rocket of a kill attempt by Hersey, propelling the ball high into the air.

It flew over two light fixtures and through a support beam, landing untouched on the Huskies' side of the net for a Grens point.

"I've never done anything close to that before," said Kraus. "He (the Hersey hitter) ripped it.

"Volleyball is a game of inches - one more inch and that ball would have hit the ceiling. That it didn't was incredible and I think that kick-started us."

Elk Grove (9-2, 3-1) won the first set on two straight Hersey hits into the net, but the momentum turned to Hersey in the second set.

After a 15-minute mid-game delay, the referees determined that the Grens had made a lineup error and took a point away, giving it to Hersey.

"We were switching things up and we got a number messed up," said Kraus, while Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz added that "we just wanted to get that game over with."

Hersey (9-3, 2-2) rode the good feelings from the second set to match point in the third. But after a sideout, Grens libero Anthony Prochenski took over at the service line.

Prochenski, whose jump float serve had been keeping Hersey off balance all match, led Elk Grove to a 24-24 tie.

"Anthony was very effective," said Windholz.

The Grens took control at 26-25 on a kill by Kevin Wickstrom, then Kraus set up Wickstrom again for the match winning point.

Angelo Coniglio led Hersey on attack with 12 kills while teammate Kevin Messer had 14 digs.

For Elk Grove, Kraus had 15 assists and 13 digs, while Prochenski was 17-for-17 from the service line.

Windholz said defense was the key to the win for Elk Grove.

"Anthony and Patrick (McKenna) were diving all over the place, saving everything in sight," said Windholz. "They kept us in the game."

Prospect d. Rolling Meadows: Eryk Krzyzak led the host Knights in both kills (9) and digs (10) as Prospect topped the Mustangs 25-18, 25-23 in MSL East play.

Dane Schweinzger had 8 kills for Prospect, which also got big production from Kyle Gerber (20 assists, 7 digs, 1.5 blocks), Liam Benson (7 digs) and Alex Blethen (5 kills, 6 digs).

Enrique Avellaneda was 46-for-46 setting with 8 assists and also led Meadows in kills with 8. Other top Mustangs contributors included Jose Cruz (6 digs), Tommy Murphy (5 digs) and Marc Quezada (4 digs).

Fremd d. Conant: The Vikings claimed a 25-20, 25-21 decision in MSL West play as Lucas Lang (10 kills), Jacob Cuthbert (7) and Tyler Larson (5) led the attack.

Patrick Kurka had a team-best 10 digs for Fremd (5-5, 2-2), and Eduardo Amador provided 15 setting assists.

Conant's top producers included Chris Wegenek, Tim Breiter and Pavle Todorov (4 kills apiece), Nate Armando (14 assists) and J.T. Levitt (6 digs).

Palatine d. Hoffman Estates: The visiting Pirates prevailed 25-15, 25-14 in MSL West play.

Ryan Campbell (6 kills), Jake Boldog (4) and Tyler Kendzior (3) led Palatine's attack, and Kendzior served 5 aces and provided 13 setting assists.

Hoffman Estates got 4 kills from Matt Stacy and 5 assists from Hardik Patel.

Barrington d. Schaumburg: The Broncos stayed unbeaten in the MSL West by claiming a 25-12, 19-25 victory over the host Saxons.

Noah Riccheti helped lead Barrington with 21 assists and 8 digs, and teammate Justin Glader had a match-best 9 kills.

Skahur West came up with a team-best 4 kills for Schaumburg (10-9, 2-2).

Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: The host Wildcats gave the Bison a test, but Buffalo Grove managed to protect its lead in the MSL East with a 25-18, 25-22 decision.

Wheeling got big efforts from Kyle Bagarella (13 assists, 11 digs), Alex Rybak (6 kills, 6 digs), Michael Lechowicz (5 kills) and Juan Salgado (10 digs).