Hersey hangs tough, stops Elk Grove

Hersey found itself in an eerily familiar position Thursday night at Elk Grove.

When the two teams played last month, the Huskies lost a squeaker in Game 1 and then came back to handily win Game 2 before falling victim to a Grens rally in Game 3.

This time around, the story was the same - but the ending was decidedly different.

Hersey once again dropped the first game and won Game 2 big.

But the Huskies held fast in the Game 3 and pulled away for a 23-25, 25-15, 25-19 Mid-Suburban East boys volleyball victory. The outcome keeps Hersey tied for the East lead with Buffalo Grove with 1 divisional game left.

Senior Bart Migus led the way for the Huskies down the stretch with 4 of his 13 kills and a key 4-point service run coming late in the deciding set.

Migus was able to excel despite being under the weather.

"Bart was sick all day and dehydrated," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill. "He gave a gutsy performance."

The outsider hitter added 3 blocks and was 16-for-16 serving.

"A few of us were a little sick today," Migus said. "But we ignored that and just focused on getting the win."

"This was a big game, but we tried to treat it the same as every other game. We don't focus on what other teams in the East are doing. Winning is what's important to us."

Hersey came out with an aggressive mindset, playing so aggressively to start the match that Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz had to call time out after only 3 points had been played. The Huskies were up 3-0.

"I'd seen this before," Windholz said. "When we play a good team - and we've played a lot of good teams this year - I can see doubt settling in with our guys if we fall behind.

"I just told them that it wasn't going to happen this time, and they responded."

Elk Grove (18-9, 5-4) trailed late in the first game but an ace from Alex Maniholov gave the Grens a 23-22 advantage.

Then after a side out, a kill by Kevin Wickstrom pushed Elk Grove to a 24-23 lead. Sam Jasutis and Geoffrey Dybicz shared the final point on a block kill.

The second game was all Hersey but Elk Grove grabbed a 2-point lead midway through the deciding game behind the hitting of Jasutis (8 kills) and Dybicz (7 kills).

At that point, Hersey was flashing back to last month's match.

"We were thinking about it," admitted Huskies senior Alec Horne of the game in April where Hersey held a 24-21 lead in the third set, only to lose. "We wanted a little revenge."

Hersey (20-3, 7-2) rallied and took the lead for good on three straight kills from Migus, and opened up a 23-16 advantage after Anthony Coniglio put down the final of his team-high 14 kills.

The visitors closed out the win with Coniglio and Matt Hopkins getting the final points.

"Last time we played them," Lill said. "We had a ton of unforced errors. We got it together tonight."

Huskies Drew Snelson was 18-of-18 from the service line with an ace while setter Peyton Haas had 19 assists.

"I thought Peyton really stepped up," Lill added. "He played very well."

Ray Kraus finished with 28 assists for Elk Grove while Horne pitched in with 5 kills for Hersey.

"We had a game plan tonight," Horne said. "and we stuck with that game plan. The whole team stepped up.

"We got down again just like the last time, but we didn't let it get us down. We pushed through point after point. This was a true team win."

Barrington d. Schaumburg: Sean Frey (7 kills), Justin Glader (7), Ethan Carroll (4) and Adam Glader (3) led the Barrington attack in a 25-17, 25-12 MSL West victory which clinched an outright divisional championship as the Broncos improved to 9-0.

Noah Ricchetti handed out 24 assists while the defense was led by James Tiao (7 digs), Sean Frey (6) and Ricchetti (4).

Fremd d. Conant: Lucas Lang produced 6 kills and Ben Zimmerman and Kevin Wade had 5 apiece to help the Vikings in a 25-19, 25-11 victory in MSL West play.

Patrick Kurka had a team-high 14 digs and Eduardo Amador ran the offense to the tune of 15 assists for Fremd (12-14, 5-4).

Palatine d. Hoffman Estates: Tyler Kendzior and Jake Boldog both finished with 8 setting assists to lift the Pirates 25-16, 25-10 in MSL West play.

Kendzior also contributed 3 blocks along with 5 aces on 15-for-17 serving.

Matt Stacy had a pair of kills and also served 2 aces for the Hawks.

Prospect d. Rolling Meadows: Eryk Krzyzak (8 kills, 12 digs) and Alex Blethen (7 kills, 13 digs) led Prospect to a 25-20, 25-21 victory in MSL East play.

Jeff Waisganis (8 kills), Marc Quezada (5 digs) and Enrique Avellaneda (14 assists) were leaders for the Mustangs.

Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: Buffalo Grove improved to 21-5 and 7-2 in the MSL east with a 25-9, 25-17 victory.

Athan Cruz (9 kills) and Ian Van Wazer (5) led the BG attack set by Danny Zickert (20 assists) and Paul Weon (12) and Kevin Shanahan (4).

Wheeling (3-23, 0-9) was led on attack by Tyler Larosa (3 kills), Jesus Zacarias (2), Albert Flores (2) and Michael Lechowicz (2). Kyle Bagarella handed out 9 assists.