Boys volleyball: Amos stands tall at service line for Lake Zurich at Buffalo Grove

Come to think of it, you don't see too many middle hitters playing all the way around. They usually block and then sit down.

At Lake Zurich, the team's middle hitter is senior Nate Amos. He doesn't sit very often. Among the reasons for that is he has a ferocious serve.

It went to three sets in Buffalo Grove on Tuesday night. In the final set, the Bison got some strong hits and blocks from Ian VanWazer and Daniel Rogowski. Buffalo Grove led late at 18-15.

And then Amos (11 kills) went to the service line. The senior notched his 11th kill for one point. Andrew Gilbertson scored on another serve and finally Amos landed an ace.

Lake Zurich rallied in game one of the spring volleyball season to claim a 21-25, 25-20, 25-22 road victory.

"For most of us, this is our senior year,'' Amos said. "And it's a big one. The seniors are really close. We've been playing together all four years. We have great chemistry and we know what we have to do."

Amos clearly is a force for Lake Zurich and notes he's been approached to play Division I volleyball.

As one might expect, there were plenty of mistakes in set one. And then Buffalo Grove junior, Danny Zickert, went to the serving line. He notched an ace and had kills by VanWazer and setter Zach Schnittker. Another VanWazer kill and the Bison had opened an 18-11 advantage.

"Buffalo Grove shows a lot of potential,'' said Lake Zurich right side hitter Alex Krasowski. "They played some really good defense. It was hard to get a ball by them."

Buffalo Grove coach Tim Kosiek was quite proud of his team's effort on opening night.

"I was very impressed with our team,'' Kosiek said. "Lake Zurich is a tall and talented team. But our defense was outstanding."

The Bears fought back in set two. However, the Bears' lead didn't grow more than 2 points most of the way. Again, Amos made his presence known down the stretch. One of his late hits was hit so hard it's stunning the volleyball didn't explode.

Lake Zurich coach Lesly Ravenscraft noted her team likes to open the season against the Bison.

"This is always a big match,'' Ravenscraft said. "Their setter was great and they have some smart hitters."

The busy Bison setter, Schnittker, led his team with 9 kills. He also had 27 assists. Zickert added 7 kills. VanWazer and Rogowski each had 5 kills.

Lake Zurich's Krasowski had 7 kills. Nick Meyer (5 kills) and Gilbertson (3 kills) all helped out the Bears' cause.