Boys volleyball: VanWazer, Buffalo Grove don't waver at Hersey

Buffalo Grove junior Ian VanWazer knows what drives the Bison boys volleyball team.

"Our attitude," said VanWazer, who plays on the outside. "We try to come out every time with a positive attitude. We may not be the tallest team out there but when we play like we played tonight, no one can beat us."

Thursday night at Hersey, BG needed all of that positive mental focus and more to shake off a determined Huskies team.

The Bison rallied for a 25-19, 25-23 Mid-Suburban East triumph.

"We may not be tall, but we play tall," said Bison coach Tim Kosiek. "I'm really proud of how hard the guys played tonight. They kept fighting and kept getting touches on the balls."

Hersey led late in Set 2 and was poised to send the match into a deciding third set but fell just short.

"There were some plays at the end where we didn't execute, and that hurt us," said Huskies coach Nancy Lill. "We battled back, but Buffalo Grove is a nice team. They're quick and they played great defense."

Buffalo Grove (13-9-4, 4-0) won the first set despite several terrific defensive plays from Hersey, especially from junior Christian Castro, who twice dove of out bounds for digs that saved a couple of points.

BG setter Zach Schnittker somehow fought off a rocket kill attempt by Hersey for set point.

"Schnittker is great," Lill said. "He does it all. He runs a faster tempo than we're used to."

Hersey led the second set 23-22 after a block kill from Ryan Bayerle, who led the Huskies with 3 blocks.

But a Huskies kill attempt sailed just wide to allow BG to tie the set.;

Then the Huskies hit the antenna on the next point to give the visitors a 24-23 advantage.

BG junior outside hitter Danny Zickert put down the final point.

Angelo Coniglio led Hersey (6-2, 3-2) on attack with 7 kills while Matt Hopkins and Jake Mailloux each hit 4.

Justin Hong pitched in with 14 digs for the Huskies

"Hersey's a great team," VanWazer said. "They always play us tough."

VanWazer, who led BG with 8 kills on 17-of-19 hitting, said a well-timed time out by Kosiek with the Bison down by 3 points midway through the scond set helped turn the tide.

"At that point we knew we had to fix our passing," VanWazer said. "And we had to start keeping our hits in, limit our mistakes and let them (Hersey) make the mistakes."

Schnittker collected 27 assists and 2 kills.

Teammate Christopher Tsournas had 8 kills for BG while Blake Maley was 12-for-12 from the service line.

"The guys impressed me tonight with their composure," Kosiek added. "We talk a lot about understanding that there'll be bad calls for both sides and there'll be some bad plays, and to recognize that and not let one play or one single point get you down."

Koseik said the Bison didn't make a lot of mistakes.

"When we play clean we win," he said "And we played well tonight."

Barrington d. Fremd: The Broncos remained perfect against MSL West opponents with a 25-17, 25-21 win in Palatine. Top contributors for Fremd (4-7, 1-4) included Tyler Larson (11 kills), Patrick Kurka (10 digs) and Kaleb Scharman (15 assists).

Palatine d. Conant: Johnny O'Shea (9 kills) and Zach Wheat (7) were the top attackers as Palatine picked up an MSL West victory. Jake Boldog had 24 assists, and the Pirates got 10 digs from Andrew Padilla.

Rolling Meadows d. Elk Grove: The host Mustangs won a pair of close sets, 25-23 and 26-24, to edge the Grens in MSL East competition.

Marc Quezada produced a team-best 9 digs for Meadows, while Tommy Murphy (11 kills) led the attack and Billy Psarros and Joe Tunzi both contributed 13 assists.

Kevin Braceros (7 kills), Ed Gonzalez (17 assists), Anthony Prochenski (15 digs) and Connor Emmerich (5 blocks) and Brendon Rathman (4 blocks) led the effort for Elk Grove.

Schaumburg d. Hoffman Estates: The Saxons got 6 kills from Andrew Norris and Dan Kaszuba, and 5 kills and 7 digs from Filip Chmielewski in a 23-25, 25-14, 25-19 decision over the visiting Hawks in MSL West play. Nic Lazarevic had a team-high 9 digs, and Kamron Groves and Justin Rieves both had 4 blocks for the Saxons (3-12, 2-3).

Hoffman Estates got 3 kills apiece from Miguel Pineda, Bailey Maze, Khalil Greaves and Michael Swan. Alan Zapinski and T.J. Rodgers both finished with 6 assists, and Daniel Ham had a team-best 7 digs.

Prospect d. Wheeling: Michael Poulos had a team-best 11 kills and Scotty Baackes provided 16 assists to lift the visiting Knights past the Wildcats 25-19, 25-11.