Boys volleyball: Progress aplenty for tourney runner-up Hersey
Hersey senior Angelo Coniglio said that once the Huskies shook off a little rust at Saturday's Palatine-Schaumburg boys volleyball invite, they were just fine.
"We were in a little bit of a funk," said the outside hitter. "We had to eliminate the errors. We play a controlled game and our defense was amazing today."
Coniglio had 43 kills, 7 blocks and 17 digs to lead Hersey to a 4-1 record in the tournament and a second-place finish.
After winning their first three pool play matches on Friday, the Huskies defeated Joliet Catholic Saturday in a semifinal contest to advance to the championship game.
Glenbard North got the better of Hersey in the title match 25-16, 25-15.
"I was really impressed with the composure of our guys today," said Panthers coach Dedra DeBenedetti, whose team won all 5 matches at the invitational to improve to 20-3. "They didn't get down on themselves any time our opponents made a run."
Brandon Gorzela led Glenbard North on attack with 37 overall kills while Prit Mehta was a stalwart on defense with 38 digs.
"We've had a tough week," added DeBenedetti. "We played every day, Monday through Saturday.
"There were some quality teams in this tournament, and it's nice to see some new teams that you're not familiar with."
Lake Zurich also scored a 4-1 mark in the invite, defeating Joliet Catholic 25-17, 25-14 to win third place.
The Bears, who were led by Jeff Carmody with 107 assists and 17 aces, trailed the second set early against the Hilltoppers but went on a unheard of 12-point run to take control.
"We started a little slow," said Lake Zurich coach Lesly Ravenscraft, "but were were able to pick it, get the momentum and keep the momentum.
"We didn't make a lot of mistakes today, and I was impressed with the guys coming back (after a semis loss to Glenbard North) to play a dominant match against Joliet."
Joliet West won 5th place with a victory over Maine East
Host Palatine finished seventh overall after a 25-15, 25-12 win over crosstown rival Fremd.
The Pirates were 3-2 in the invitational, with their other wins coming over Lakes and Proviso West. Senior Zach Wheat led the Pirates' offense with 35 kills on 48-of-56 hitting, while setter Jake Boldog earned 90 assists and had 8 service aces.
Hersey (10-3) won Friday over Maine East, Carmel, and Palatine JV (a late addition due to a team dropping out at the last minute) to set themselves up for an early morning semifinal game Saturday against Joliet Catholic.
The Huskies took a late 7-point lead over the Hilltoppers at 22-15 in the first set when junior Christian Castro served up an ace, then Dan Swan put the the final point after a long rally to put Hersey up one set after a 25-19 win.
Joliet Catholic won the second set 25-20, but Hersey ran out in the deciding set and got to match point at 24-18.
There were a few nervous moments therafter as the Hilltoppers reeled off 3 straight points, but Ryan Bayerle, a Huskies middle blocker, put the match into the win column on a well placed tip kill.
"We were trying to destroy their momentum," said Coniglio after the Joliet Catholic second-set win. "I play club against their number 6 (Blake Reardon) - he's a very good player, an amazing player actually - and I tried to frustrate him and get inside his head."
Jake Mallioux and Matt Hopkins each had 17 killls in the tourney for the Huskies.
"This was a great tournament for us, a solid tournament," said Huskies coach Nancy Lill. "We didn't match up well against Glenbard North - they're a nice team with a phenomenal defense and they don't make many mistakes - but as a team this season we're just finding ourselves.
"We grew up a lot at this tournament."