Boys volleyball: O'Shea, Palatine past Lake Zurich
Johnny O'Shea hadn't been a big part of the offense for Palatine's boys volleyball team through two games of Tuesday's regional volleyball semifinal match against Lake Zurich.
"He only had three sets in the first game," said Pirates coach Frank Stark, "and when I looked at the stats at the end of the second game, I think he had only been set for six times. He's too special of an athlete not to be involved more than that."
O'Shea, an outside hitter, proved his coach right on, taking over in the latter stages of the third game.
The junior had 5 big kills down the stretch and played an outstanding all-around game as Palatine, the No. 13 seed, upset the fourth-seeded Bears 21-25, 25-22, 25-19 in the Fremd regional.
O'Shea finished with 11 kills, excelled on defense as well with 11 digs and led the team with 4 blocks in a rollercoaster ride of a win.
"Volleyball is a game of rallies," said O'Shea. "Once we got rolling, it was important for us to keep the momentum going and keep putting on the gas.
"Lake Zurich played a great game. They can hold their heads high, and we can hold our heads high too."
Senior right-side Alex Krasowski had a game-high 14 kills for the Bears to go along with 5 aces. But Lake Zurich suffered a blow in the second game when senior setter Jeff Carmody went down with a rolled ankle.
In a gutty effort, Carmody tried to return late in the third game but was hobbling.
"It wasn't too tough to be on the bench," said Carmody, "because I felt that my guys were going to pull through.
"This was a disappointing loss, but I'm proud of our team and the way we stayed together."
It was all Lake Zurich in the first game. Then Palatine fought off an early deficit to win game 2, led by a 7-point run midway through highlighted by 2 aces from Conor McGarvey.
The deciding game was tied midway through when a perfectly placed dump kill by sophomore Ben Rinella gave Palatine the lead.
Three kills from O'Shea helped the Pirates open up a 22-15 advantage, and after a mild Lake Zurich rally, another kill from O'Shea and a serving error by the Bears closed out the match.
Libero Connor Nix pitched in with 11 digs for Palatine.
"Our energy level," said Stark when asked what led to the Pirates turnaround. "We've got some young kids, they're inexperienced, and I think sometimes they try to figure out the other team too much instead of just playing our game.
"When they play with the kind of intensity they showed tonight," added Stark, "it's a lot of fun to watch."
After the loss, Lake Zurich coach Lesly Ravenscraft lamented what might have been.
"It was tough after Jeff (Carmody) went down," said Ravenscraft. "He tried to give it a go in the third set, but he couldn't move around very much. It's too bad we couldn't have closed it out in the second set."