Boys volleyball: Prospect turns the tide at Rolling Meadows

Prospect's boys volleyball team came oh-so-close to a disappointing first-set loss to Rolling Meadows on Tuesday night, a game in which they led by 9 points late.

It could have taken the wind right out of their sails, but instead the visiting Knights recovered to cruise to a 3-set win.

Prospect rallied to score a 27-25, 22-25, 25-22 Mid-Suburban East boys volleyball victory.

"Definitely a big win for us," said Knights setter Scotty Baackes, who finished with 36 assists. "We made a statement. We came out with a lot of energy and were locked in."

"Rolling Meadows is a team you can't go to sleep on," added Prospect coach Peter King. "We did there for a little while, but we found our composure when we needed it."

Tommy Murphy led the Mustangs with a match-high 18 kills, while the home team was almost perfect from the service line, missing only 1 serve the entire game.

"We had energy, and we had a lot fans out here supporting us," said Meadows coach Kevin Bourn, whose team fell to 3-5 in the East. "It was all about executing at the end, and we fell a little short."

"We came into this season thinking we had a shot at winning conference. We gave it our best shot, but we knew it would be difficult with so many tough teams (in the MSL East). Now we're focused on improving and getting ready for regionals."

Prospect led set one 20-11 but Meadows stormed back, tying the game at 25-all on a kill from Logan Reese.

But a tip kill gave the Knights the lead back, and Baackes closed out the first set with a well-timed block kill.

"Coach (King) liked the way we came out with energy tonight," said Prospect junior Evan Sadlon. "Then we kind of went into a shell, which we've had a habit of doing this season. It was nice that we were able to close this one out."

Meadows came back to win set two, highlighted late in the game by an off-balance, cross-court winner from Murphy that somehow just avoided the antenna.

The Mustangs forged a 12-7 lead in the deciding set, but Prospect came back to tie it at 20-20.

Then the Knights (7-18, 4-4) scored 4 of the next 5 points, and after a Murphy kill brought Meadows closer, Baackes set a perfect ball to senior Liam Benson for the match-winner.

Benson finished with 18 kllls and 9 digs, while teammate Josh Kern added 9 digs.

"Our passing was phenomenal," said Baackes. "Our passers got me the ball, and I was able to get the ball to our hitters. They all made me look good tonight."

"We lost some of our energy midway through," added Sadlon. "In the third set we were able to get our mojo back."

Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: The Bison clinched a tie for the Mid-Suburban East title with a 25-21, 21-14 victory over the Wildcats.

The Bison (18-9, 8-0) got 21 assists and 6 kills from Zach Schnittker, and Daniel Rogowski and Ryan Horvath had 2 blocks apiece. Chris Tsourmas contributed 6 kills, and Danny Zickert, Ian VanWazer and Rogowski had 3 each.

Barrington d. Schaumburg: The Broncos improved to 8-0 in the league with a 25-18, 25-16 victory over the Saxons.

Josh Babich paced Barrington's attack with 9 kills, while TJ Murry had 6, Joe Roeckell 4 and Gabe Hartke 3.

Jack Ridgway paced the Broncos with 22 assists and Justin Tiao served 2 aces.

Hersey d. Elk Grove: The visiting Huskies powered past Elk Grove 25-18, 25-12 in MSL East action.

Angelo Coniglio led Hersey (19-3, 6-2) with 9 kills and Matt Hopkins had 7. Justin Hong led the Huskies with 9 digs, Vince Reisel had a team-best 23 assists and Hopkins led the way with 4 blocks.

Leading the attack for Elk Grove with 5 kills each were Connor Emmerich, Shivam Patel and Brendon Rathman. Ed Gonzalez was 56-for-56 setting for 20 assists, and Anthony Prochenski had a team-high 14 digs.

Conant d. Fremd: The visiting Cougars pulled out a tough three-setter, winning 28-26, 27-29, 25-23 in MSL West play.

Leaders for Fremd (7-13, 2-6) included Tyler Larson (11 kills), Patrick Kurka (19 digs) and Kaleb Scharman (24 assists).

Marist d. St. Viator: Brothers Nathaniel and Collin Cull were a combined 27-for-27 serving, but the Lions ended up falling 25-18, 22-25, 25-23 in East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

James Woods had a team-best 17 kills and Max Hogan had 10 for St. Viator.