Buffalo Grove outlasts Elk Grove
Buffalo Grove turned back one of its nearest challengers of Thursday, topping Elk Grove 25-17, 20-25, 25-20 to maintain a 1-game lead in the Mid-Suburban East boys volleyball race.
Athan Cruz had a team-best 9 kills while Alex Franz and Alex Pietras had 4 apiece to help the Bison improve to 20-4 overall and 6-1 in the MSL East. Buffalo Grove is 1 game ahead of second-place Hersey with 3 divisional games remaining.
Tulis Ruscitti had a 15 digs and Brendan Ward was 10-for-11 hitting with 7 kills for the Bison.
Sam Jasutis (19-for-25, 14 kills) and Geoffrey Dybicz (21-for-22, 12 kills) had big hitting performances for Elk Grove (14-6, 4-3), and Ray Kraus was 77-for-78 setting with 37 assists.
Elk Grove slipped into a divisional tie for third place with Prospect.
Hersey d. Prospect: The Huskies moved out of a three-way tied for second place and into that spot all by themselves by topping the Knights 25-23, 25-17.
Kevin Messer and Angelo Coniglio both had 9 digs for the Huskies (13-3, 5-2), and Coniglio also had 8 kills. Bart Migus led Hersey's attack with 14 kills, and Peter Wesolowski had 30 setting assists.
Among the key figures for Prospect were Alex Blethen (7 kills, 6 digs), Eryk Krzyzak (6 kills, 6 digs) and Dane Schweinzger (6 kills), along with Kyle Gerber (19 assists, 4 digs).
Palatine d. Schaumburg: Tyler Kendzior and Jake Boldog were central to the Pirates' 25-18, 30-28 victory in MSL West play.
Kendzior had a team-best 10 kills and was 13-for-14 serving with 2 aces, and Boldog provided a team-best 10 assists with 7-for-9 serving and 2 aces of his own.
Barrington d. Conant: The Broncos remained perfect in the MSL West by handling Conant 25-11, 25-18.
Provinding 4 digs each for Barrington were Jack Ridgway, Connor Shoults, James Tiao and Matt Rowley, while Justin Glader and Josh Babicz had 5 kills apiece and Noah Ricchetti had 15 setting assists.
Nicola Todorov had 3 kills for Conant and J.T. Levitt provided a team-best 10 digs.
Fremd d. Hoffman Estates: The host Vikings improved to 11-12 overall and 4-3 in the MSL West with a 25-17, 25-15 victory over the Hawks.
Top Fremd producers included Tyler Larson (11 kills), Patrick Kurka (10 digs), Lucas Lang (5 block kills) and Eduardo Amador (13 assists).
Matt Stacy paced Hoffman Estaes with 4 kills and Hardik Patel provided 7 assists.
Rolling Meadows d. Wheeling: Logan Reese had a team-best 8 kills on 9-of-11 hitting, and Enrique Avellaneda contributed 22 assists, 5 kills and 10-for-10 service with an ace to help the Mustangs win 25-12, 25-16.
Tommy Murphy served 3 aces and added 5 digs for Meadows.
Wheeling's Kyle Bagarella was 39-for-40 setting with 10 assists. Johny Carvajal had a team-best 12 digs and Alex Rybak (7 digs) had a team-high 5 kills.
St. Viator d. Notre Dame: The Lions picked up an East Suburban Catholic Conference victory as Matt Drab provided a team-best 8 kills and Vito Brunetti 14 assists in a 25-14, 25-16 decision.