Boys volleyball: Scouting Northwest

MID-SUBURBAN EASTBuffalo GroveThe perennially successful Bison won the MSL championship last season and are poised for another breakout campaign. "We beat expectations last year," said BG coach Tim Kosiek. "Many players stepped into new roles and did a tremendous job of working together and achieving goals. We were not a very tall team, and that might create some challenges again this year." The Bison will be looking for leadership to 4-year varsity player Ian Van Wazer, an outside hitter, this season, along with senior hitter Chris Tsourmas. "The success of our season hinges on discipline, focus, and composure on the court," added Kosiek. "I believe we have the potential to see continued growth in each match we compete in." Also on the roster for BG will be Brian Franz, Michael Lohse, Ryan Horvath, Greg Schneider and Danny Zickert.

Elk GroveIt was a rollercoaster ride in 2016 for the Grenadiers as the team split games with every division rival except Buffalo Grove, to whom they lost to twice. The Grens were 18-18 overall, but will return a big piece of the puzzle this year in all-conference senior outside hitter Kevin Braceros. "We graduated eight seniors from last year's squad," said coach Daniel Windholz, "but we've got nine seniors on this year's team. We should have a very similar season to last year, with a high ceiling depending on the improvement and performance of new players." Windholz will also count heavily on some returnees, including junior setter Ed Gonzalez and defensive specialist senior Carlos Leon.

HerseyThe Huskies return a solid nucleus from last year's potent squad. Leading the way will be 6-foot-5 middle blocker Matt Hopkins, who coach Nancy Lill says is "capable of dominating a match." Hopkins will have lots of help in the form of senior setter Vince Reisel, returning libero Justin Hong, and junior outside hitter Jake Mailloux. "We've got a very motivated group that works very hard," said Lill. "We have size and great setting and defense, and our athleticism should take us far. We just need to continue to improve our consistency in passing and strive to be better each time out on the court." Defensive specialist Christian Castro will be expected to make a big contribution, and rounding out the crew will be Camran Saeed, Joe Nugent, Patrick O'Brien, Andrew Leno, Adrian Holubek, Mike Seneczko, Christian Hong and Jakub Migus.

ProspectKnights coach Mike Riedy returns to take charge of a very young squad in 2017. "We're working hard this season to put together a varsity-level team," says Riedy. "With very little experience the struggle is real. Training two new setters has become a top priority, but I'm sure that we will be able to bring these together before the start of the conference season." The Prospect roster this year will include Matt Szuba (senior outside hitter), Connor Riordan (senior outside hitter), Glenn Wiley (senior middle), Quinn Benson (junior setter), Deegan O'Malley (senior outside hitter) and Pat McPartlin (junior middle).

Rolling Meadows"Last year left us hungry," says Meadows coach Kevin Bourn as the Mustangs did well but "lost a lot of close matches." Luckily for Meadows, all-area libero Marc Quezada returns for his senior season, as does senior outside Logan Reese, who has earned 359 kills since his varsity debut. "With both setters, our libero and defensive specialists, and multiple hitters returning this year, we're looking to improve on our conference record - in addition to our tournament performance and our playoff longevity." Arthur Barczak, a junior middle, is one of the talked-about returnees, and Bourn says that the junior has "improved a ton" since being coverted from the right side to the middle.

WheelingThe Wildcats could roar in 2017 thanks to some tremendous returnees and what coach Jason Kopkowski calls "a ton of experience and a great attitude about what we are doing on a daily basis." Captain Matt Schiferl returns for his varsity season, as does setter Kyle Bagarella. "We are senior-heavy and these guys realize that this is their last chance to find success at the varsity level," said Kopkowski. "Our goal is to put ourselves in a position to be successful at the end of each match and give ourselves a chance. We are greatly improved and have set high standards for ourselves." Also taking the court this year for Wheeling will be Michael Lechowicz, Oleg Boyanivskyy, Sono Tsogtbaatar, Michael Freeman, Jon Janowski, Alex Rowenski, Michael Best, Jared Moser, Connor Duncan, Kevin Garcia and Tristan Johnson.

MID-SUBURBAN WESTBarringtonThe Broncos stride to the floor this season returning nine varsity players from last year. "We have a lot of guys that have made significant strides in the off-season," says coach Rob Ridenour. "We've become much more physical. Evan Carroll (a junior setter) is doing a fantastic job with the offense right now, and having Josh Babicz (a 6-6 senior middle hitter) back, with his experience and leadership has really helped everybody get up to speed." Top returnees for Barrington are Michael Hagan, Connor Shoults, Jacob Werner, Stephen Wanca, Sean Doland, Zach Robins and Gabe Hartke, while the newcomers will be Michael O'Toole, Petar Lumovic, Hari Ramakrishnan, Michael Dreiling, Dillon Davey, Justin Hill, Thomas Chapman, Cameron Sorce and Ryan Brown.

ConantJC Brown is one of a trio of first-year area head coaches, as he takes over the reins for the Cougars. He previously coached at Prairie Ridge. "I'm looking forward to the challenge," said Brown, who will be helped tremendously be the return of stellar senior outside hitter Tim Breiter. "Our goals are high this year," said Brown. "We expect not only to make a late run into the playoffs, but bring home a conference championship as well. We will be an aggressive team with a strong defense at its core." Pitching in for the Conant squad will be seniors Nick Weishaar and Pavle Todorov, as well as junior middle Sam Bryant.

FremdThe Vikings will be inexperienced this year, returning only one starter from 2016. "We'll be looking for leadership and consistency from our young team," says Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "I think we will be a little bit more athletic that last season but we are short on varsity experience." Kabel Scharman, a senior setter, is the starting returnee, and new to the lineup will be seniors Tanner Yates, Kyle Nelson and Alex Wysocki, juniors Aaron Peterson, Jacob Peterson, Ben Cohen and Rocco Stella, and sophomore Martin Michalski. "The one thing that we will have is a dedication to team mentality," said Pinley. "I think our learning curve will be huge and I look forward to how we improve from the beginning of the season to the start of the state tournament in May."

Hoffman EstatesLong-time coach Dan Hutton will have an experienced group this year with seniors Michael Swan, JD Lynch, Daniel Ham, Alan Zapinski, Khalil Greaves, Miguel Pineda and Monesh Vijayakumar on the roster. "Last season we relied heavily on defense to keep us in games," said Hutton. "This is once again our focus, but we're also adding some more height to our offense this year and should bring us a much more exciting offense. The guys have been working hard in the off-season, we have excellent senior leadership and we've been having some very enthusiastic practices." Rounding out the Hawks squad will be juniors James Swan, Jaccamo Henslee, and Jonathan Kolweier.

PalatinePirates coach Frank Stark says he is "looking to build around our young returning starters at the pins." This year's roster will consist of Conor McGarvey, Ben Rinella, Justin Wiesenmayer, Matt Weltzien, Johnny O'Shea, Rohith Gudivada, Camden Hill, Bryant Smith, Curtics McLennan, Connor Nix, Diego Garcia, Matt Cooper, Ronak Patel, Leon Donlin and Zach Wakczynski. "More than any teams I have had in the past," said Stark, "these guys love to work all the time. They never complain, they just love to play and complete. I believe I have a solid team in every aspect of the game and the sky is the limit for us this year."

SchaumburgFirst-year coach Eric Melton will hope to keep the Saxons on the winning track as he takes over for Jeff O'Brien. "We're going to be competitive in the Mid-Suburban League," said Melton, "and within our region." The Saxons' top returnees are seniors Ever Ortega, Filip Chmielewski and Andrew Norris, and juniors Dan Kaszuba and Brian Kirschaum. "We expect this to be a year of growth for our program," added Melton, "and we're excited about things to come."

WEST SUBURBAN GOLDLeydenThe Eagles have a new coach this year, Shelly Mueller, and she'll have some nice weapons on her team this year. "We have a really great mix of players," said Mueller. "We have seniors with varsity leadership, and younger players looking to step in to new roles." Four returning varsity players for Leyden will be seniors Mike Motyka, Roman Sydorchuk, Eddie Lavallais III and Nick Diaz. "We're looking for Mike to continue to be an excellent setter and leader," said Mueller, "for Eddie to continue to be a big block and for Robert(Elem) to step into a big prescence as an outside." New players on the team this year will include Willie Aviles, Devinn Wood, Rodrigo Caldera, Anthony Cruz, Elem, Erickberto Perez, Tom Radziszewski, Carlos Villasenor and Axel Castillo.

CSL NORTHMaine WestIt looks to be a rebuilding year for the Warriors as they lost eight varsity players to graduation. The future, however, looks bright, according to coach Randy Tiller. "If we can use our height to its fullest," said Tiller, "we will compete in conference and in our most challenging tournaments. Our team goal is to finish over .500." Matt Halverson does return as a middle blocker, and opposite him will be a junior with club experience, Liam Skinner. Kevin Lee will take one of the outside hitter positions, along with teammates Shivam Patel, Michael Bilotich and Jorge Velasco. "We'll have two new setters who played on the JV squad last year," said Tiller, "and they'll be learning the speed of the varsity game." Other members of the roster will include Levin Rosete, who Tiller calls "our lead defensive specialist," along with Faraz Bashir, Quinn Clerkin, Jack Collins, Jacob Glaister, Nick Sepulveda, Charlie Engstrom, Fabian Tinajero and Danny Rice.

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLICSaint ViatorFirst-year coach Jimmy Neill says the Lions have some multi-sport athletes on the team this year that may lead them to some quality wins. "We have some new basketball talent that will hopefully transfer over to the court and in our matches," says Neill. "Our team works hard in practice and are challenged every day to play and to be our best." The senior leaders for the Lions in 2017 will include libero Luke Koehler, along with classmates Jack Purcell, Steven Cieniawa, Pat Doherty, Daniel Morton, Eric Ruth, Nick Garth, Tommy Majerus, Michael Flis and Michael Metzner. Assistant coach Kate Zydlo adds that the focus of the team this year will be "serve-receive passing, serving to designated zones and defensive movement and effort." Rounding out the group will be juniors Ben Whalen, Billy Mueller, and Will Heneghan.