Vernon Hills aces sectional final test against Barrington

Homework is a dirty word in many schools right now, especially this late in the school year.

Well, maybe not at Vernon Hills.

The record clearly shows that Barrington had handled the Cougars twice during the boys volleyball regular season.

"We might have caused them to call a timeout once,'' joked Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry.

But after winning a sectional semifinal over Lake Zurich last Friday, the Cougars (30-9) went into homework mode. That's when they figured out a few things about twice-beaten Barrington, the top seed in the Antioch sectional.

As a result, Vernon Hills is headed to the state tournament quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates High School. The Cougars, the No. 7 seed in the sectional, sprung the upset 25-23, 25-21 and will meet downstate O'Fallon at 2 p.m. Friday.

"It's surreal,'' said Vernon Hills libero Alon Polischuk. "As a freshman, I watched our team go to state. It's unreal. Now I'm going to state as senior."

Another senior, middle blocker, Ian Thoren, knew his team faced an uphill battle against the hard-hitting Broncos.

"They have big hitters and amazing blockers,'' Thoren said. "We just needed to keep the ball alive and not get frustrated. This is big. This means everything."

In the opening set on Tuesday night, Jared Bennett notched the first 2 kills of the match against Barrington as the Cougars didn't show any fear against the favored Broncos. The Cougars' biggest lead was 10-7 but Barrington battled back to tie the contest. On a service point by Bennett, this crucial first set was knotted at 23-23. Adam Weinberg's serving helped Vernon Hills, and with the set on the line, big Lem Turner fired off a devastating block for the Cougars to seal the win.

"We play every year to get to state, and go on from there," Curry said. "We've reached the sectional in five out of the last six years. These kids have really learned to compete."

On a Johnny McDonald kill, the Cougars jumped out quickly in the second set.

On a Dylan DeBoer serving ace, the Cougars were in control at 13-10.

"We knew they had a very tough group of players,'' Curry said. "But we had time to figure out a plan. We were running different patterns. Our kids worked so hard in practice."

On another key block from Turner, the Vernon Hills lead was 18-15. And then the Broncos made a late charge.

With libero Justin Tiao serving, a kill from Adam Glader pulled Barrington (33-3) within 22-21. And then the Cougars ended Barrington's season with two McDonald kills and one from Bennett.

Yes, this state-bound team lost nine times. But Vernon Hills learned from those earlier defeats.

"These kids are so strong,'' Curry said. "Six of those losses were all teams playing in a sectional tonight."

Barrington will have to say so-long to a powerful outside hitter named Justin Glader.

"We had a great year,'' Glader said. "But tonight, Vernon Hills did a little homework on us."

Bennett led the Cougars attack with 8 kills. DeBoer (7 kills), Turner (5 kills) and McDonald (4 kills) helped out. Chris Winters had a team-best 5 blocks, while Turner and DeBoer added 2 blocks each. Cory Levin's 18 assists led the setting. Bennett added 8 assists and Polischuk had 13 digs.