Boys volleyball: Sulima, Elk Grove stand tall at Hersey
Tomasz Sulima may have just started his competitive volleyball career, but he already knows how to finish.
The Elk Grove senior middle led his team on a late third-set run at Hersey on Tuesday as the Grens outlasted the Huskies 25-20, 22-25, 25-19 in the Mid-Suburban East.
"Tom was unbelievable tonight," said Elk Grove libero Anthony Prochenski. "He's a first time player, but he played big. He was amazing."
Sulima, who comes from a volleyball family (his dad was a player) spent the first part of high school athletic career playing water polo.
This season, though, he decided it was time to step up on the court.
"It's my senior year," said Sulima, "and I wanted to go all out. It was time."
The first time Grens coach Dan Windholz saw Sulima, who is 6-foot-5, he knew he might have something special.
"He basically came out to open gym just three weeks ago," said Windholz, "and when I saw him jump and I saw that his armpits were above the net I said, 'Yeah, you can stay.' "
Sulima finished with 8 blocks, while Kevin Braceros led the Grens (4-6, 2-1) on attack with 7 kills.
Junior Matt Hopkins had 6 kills and 7 blocks for Hersey (4-1, 2-1).
"Our serve receive was off," said Huskies coach Nancy Lill, "our setting was off and our hitting was erratic. We're normally more in system, but we made too many unforced errors. We laid an egg tonight, but you've got to give credit to Elk Grove. They definitely played more consistent than we did."
Elk Grove won set one behind its prowess from the service line, as Ed Gonzalez served up two consecutive aces and Prochenski kept Hersey off-balance with his unique float serve.
"We were fired up," said Gonzalez. "We stepped up and did what we had to do to give us confidence."
Hersey rebounded to take the second set behind the hitting of Angelo Coniglio (11 kills) but thanks to the blocking of Sulima, Elk Grove opened up a 20-13 advantage in the deciding set.
The Huskies rallied to get within 22-19, but a tip kill from Braceros, another ace from Gonzalez, then a Prochenski-to-Gonzalez-to Braceros final point closed out the match.
Gonzalez, the Grens' setter, finished with 57-of-57 with 25 assists.
"This was a big win," said Gonzalez. "We didn't take anything for granted. They (Hersey) came out hard in the third game, but we never gave in."
Junior libero Justin Hong had 16 digs for the Huskies.
"We just had a total lapse tonight," said Lill. "Considering how badly we played, it was surprising that we were in it and the end, but Matt (Hopkins) played great in the final set."
Hopkins had four consecutive kills in the third set to lead the Huskies' rally, and Lill took solace in the fact that there is a long way to go this year.
"We've only played five games," said Lill. "The season is young."
Barrington d. Schaumburg: The Saxons forced the Broncos to win in comeback fashion 17-25, 25-25, 25-11 in Mid-Suburban West play.
Barrington's attack leaders were Mikey Stefan (7 kills), Ethan Carroll (6) and Josh Babicz (5). Evan Carroll had a team-best 16 assists, and Joe Roeckell led Barrington with 9 digs.
Dan Kaszuba had 9 kills and 5 digs for Schaumburg. Nic Lazarevic served 6 aces and had a team-best 12 digs for the Saxons.
Prospect d. Rolling Meadows: The Knights bounced back from a first-set loss to win 14-25, 25-19, 25-20 in MSL East play.
Liam Benson had a team-high 10 kills and also produced 6 digs for Prospect, and Scotty Backus delivered 22 setting assists.
Palatine d. Hoffman Estates: Johnny O'Shea (8 kills) and Zach Wheat (6) paced the Pirates' attack in a 25-23, 25-13 decision.
Jake Boldog produced 21 assists for Palatine, while Andrew Padilla contributed a team-high 10 digs and along with a 10-for-10 service effort which included an ace.
Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: The Bison remained unbeaten against MSL East foes with a 25-10, 25-20 victory over the Wildcats.
Top producers for Wheeling included Tyler LaRosa (4 kills), Matt Schiferl (10 digs) and Sono Tsogtbaatar (5 assists, 10 digs).