Barrington nets outright West title
Palatine faced visiting Barrington Tuesday night with some well-earned, if not giddy, anticipation.
The situation was clear-cut for the Pirates.
Defeat the Broncos, and they'd share the Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball title.
Win in two with a differential of more than 11 points, and Palatine would advance to the MSL championship game.
Unfortunately for the home team on this night, however, Barrington was just too good.
In an awesome display of power volleyball, the Broncos won the West with a 10-0 record and improved to 31-1 overall with a 25-21, 25-13 win.
"We came to play tonight the same way we always do," said Barrington opposite Justin Glader, who led the way with 9 kills. "We've been working toward this (the perfect MSL record) all season."
Zach Wheat and Ryan Campbell led the Pirates with 5 kills apiece.
"The hitting," said Palatine senior Jeremiah De La Pena when asked the reason for the Barrington victory. "Those guys can hit whenever they want, where ever they want, no matter where our block is."
Palatine (24-8, 8-2) began the game aggressively and grabbed an early lead after a block kill by Campbell.
"We were pushing the pedal," said De La Pena, "trying to get rolling. We were feeling the pressure to get redemption after the last match against them (a 2 game Barrington win.)"
Then it was the Broncos who got rolling, opening up a 12-6 advantage after an Ethan Carroll slam.
Barrington withstood a mild Palatine rally to take game one and shut down the Pirates' hope of a title game appearance.
"At that point we still had some fight left in us," said De La Pena, while Palatine coach Frank Stark added that after the game one loss he was trying to "bring the guys down to earth."
"We knew we couldn't win in two," said Stark, "but we still wanted to compete. We want to compete every single game."
Barrington roared to a big start in game two and grabbed the lead for good on an Adam Glader kill.
The Broncos extended again to 12-6 on a one-two from setter Noah Ricchetti and won going away when Ricchetti served up a match-winning ace that just tipped over the net.
"We wouldn't let up all night," said Adam Glader. "We didn't want to take anything for granted.
"When our offense is going the way it was tonight, it overshadows any defensive flaws, and when our passing and our defense is dominating, it's pretty difficult to any team to catch us."
Ricchetti had 2 blocks, 5 digs and 2 aces for Barrington while teammate TJ Murray added a couple of blocks.
"I thought we sided out very effectively," said Broncos coach Rob Ridenour.
"When we side out the way we did tonight and the guys are out there really enjoying themselves, we're tough to beat."
Hersey d. Wheeling: The Huskies earned a share of the MSL East title by handling Wheeling 25-16, 25-10.
Hersey completed conference play with an 8-2 record, tying Buffalo Grove for the division's top spot.
Top performers against the Wildcats included Bart Migus (10 kills), Peter Wesolowski (23-23 setting, 14 assists), Payton Haas (16-16 setting, 11 assists) and Kevin Messer (8 digs, 10-10 serving, 1 ace).
Buffalo Grove d. Rolling Meadows: In coach Tim Kosiek's first season, the Bison won a share of the MSL East title by topping the Mustangs 25-16, 25-21.
Though both BG and Hersey finished 8-2 in the division and split the two matches between them in league play, the Bison will advance to next week's MSL championship match against Barrington due to a slight edge in tiebreaker criteria.
Athan Cruz (6 kills) and Kevin Shanahan (5) led the attack for Buffalo Grove (26-7 overall), while Zach Schnittker contributed 18 assists and 3 kills and Tulio Ruscitti came up with 4 digs.
Tommy Murphy had 6 kills to lead the way for Meadows, while Enrique Avellaneda geneared 12 assists and Marc Quezada had a team-best 6 digs.
Fremd d. Schaumburg: Tyler Larson's 11-kill effort help lift the Vikings to a 25-19, 25-22 victory as Fremd wrapped up MSL West play with a 6-4 record. Patrick Kurka provided a team-best 9 digs and Eduardo Amador had 10 assists as Fremd improved to 12-14 overall.
Prospect d. Elk Grove: The visiting Knights claimed a third-place finish in the MSL East by topping the Grenadiers 25-21, 25-20.
Eryk Krzyzak (9 kills), Alex Blethen (6) and Kendrick Taves (4) led the hitting effort for Prospect, while Kyle Gerber generated 21 setting assists. Blethen also contributed 6 digs, and Krzyzak and Liam Benson had 5 apiece.
Elk Grove's Ray Kraus provided a 51-for-51 setting effort with 19 assists, Sam Jasutis had 9 kills and 2 blocks and Kevin Braceros had 7 kills and went 11-for-11 serving.
Conant d. Hoffman Estates: The visiting Cougars completed MSL West play with a 25-23, 21-25, 25-17 decision over the Hawks.
Connor Lejman had a team-best 9 kills and Tim Breiter had 8 for Conant. Nick Pope had a team-best 19 digs along with 5 kills and Nate Armando provided 23 setting assists.
Top producers for Hoffman Estates included Matt Stacy (11 kills, 2 aces, 8 assists, 7 digs) and Hardik Patel (19 assists, 4 digs).