Boys volleyball: St. Viator advances despite gritty effort from Rolling Meadows
Saint Viator used a 12-0 run in the second set Tuesday to score a regional semifinal victory over Rolling Meadows.
Outside hitter James Woods led the Lions with 8 kills as they defeated the Mustangs 25-21, 25-12 in a stifling hot Glenbrook North gym.
Sixth-seeded St. Viator returns to Northbrook at 6 p.m. Wednesday to face off against the host Spartans, who beat Niles West in the first semifinal, for the regional title.
Meadows was neck-and-neck with the Lions in the first set before the Mustangs suffered a huge setback.
Tommy Murphy, a senior and the Mustangs top hitter and all-around player, suffered an injury after hitting a wicked kill to bring his team within 20-21 in the first set.
He missed the rest of the match after being carried off the court.
"He sprained his ankle, and he was in a lot of pain," said Meadows coach Kevin Bourn of Murphy. "He's been battling knee problems for the past two years, but I've never seen him in as much pain as he was today."
"Tommy's a heck of a player," noted St. Viator coach Chris Boylan. "I've coached him in club. It had to be a disappointing way for Meadows to go out."
After Murphy left the floor, St. Viator got 2 consecutive kills from senior middle Max Hogan to go on and win the first game.
But Meadows recovered and took a 10-6 advantage midway through Game 2.
"It was fun to watch them play so well," said Bourn of his team, who gave a gutty effort after the loss of Murphy. "We kind of threw a lineup together and they were able to get out to a lead, but they couldn't sustain it, and unfortunately we got outplayed at the end."
"(At that point) we knew we had to bring the energy and play a lot different," said Hogan of the Lions' deficit in set 2. "If we didn't, we'd be going home. But we're a very confident team, and we know we have the capability to weather the storm and come back."
A kill from Lions junior middle Pat Doherty brought the Lions to within 10-7, then senior Nathanial Cull served 11 straight points on service and all of a sudden Viator led 18-10.
A final block-kill shared by Hogan and Woods put the match in the win column for the Lions (27-8).
"This was a good effort, a team effort," said Cull. "Every time we got a free ball back (from Meadows) we were able to put the ball away and get a kill."
Defensive specialist Matt Trunk had 10 digs for Viator, while Nathanial Cull was 13-15 on serve with an ace while twin brother Colin Cull was 13-of-14 at the service line with an ace.
Hogan added 6 kills while Colin Cull earned 26 assists from his setter position.
And despite being thankful for the victory, overall Boylan wasn't happy with the play of this team.
"We came out flat," said Boylan. "Meadows gave us our first loss this year at their tournament, so you'd have thought we'd come out with a lot of energy, but that didn't happen.
"We were struggling to string together points - it was sideout, sideout, sideout. They were playing not to make mistakes. I told them in the second set to just go out and play volleyball and have fun and they responded and did that, but we're going to have to play a lot better tomorrow."