Boys volleyball: Palatine meets the challenge at Fremd

The Palatine boys volleyball team turned in one of its most impressive performances of the season Tuesday night at Fremd.

Led by the superior setting of junior Ben Rinella (17 assists), the visiting Pirates won 25-14, 25-12 in a Mid-Suburban West matchup.

Palatine excelled from the service line as well as Connor Nix hit 3 aces and Rinella produced 2.

"We played really well," said Rinella. "Outsides, right-sides, everyone was playing great. It was a lot of fun.

"Last year we lost both matches against Fremd so this one felt good."

Tim Wink was 18-of-19 on serve receive for the Vikings, but too often the home team followed up bursts of great play with some uncharacteristic hitting errors.

"Palatine pretty much kept us out of rhythm the entire evening," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "They've got a team that puts pressure on you right from point one and they kept that pressure on us the whole time.

"They did a really nice job of taking us out of system early and we struggled from that point on."

The Pirates opened up an early 8-point lead in the first set and rode on from there as senior Johnny O'Shea provided 3 late kills to put the visitors up 1-0.

It was more of the same in the second game. All of the Pirate aces came in set 2 , including one from O'Shea that brought Palatine to match point.

A final errant hit from the Vikings closed out the match.

"It's always a tough match against Fremd," said Nix. "Every night we just try to bring energy and come out and play as hard as we can."

"They (the Vikings) have some really big hitters, but our front row played really great today."

O'Shea and teammate Curtis McLennan each finished with 5 kills for Palatine (15-3, 4-1), while Camden Hill supplied 4.

O'Shea added 12 digs, while Martin Michalski hit 5 kills for Fremd (6-5, 2-3).

"We'd make some nice plays tonight and get a sideout, then we'd follow up by serving out," said Pinley. "It's been something that we've been trying to work on and improve on."

"The biggest thing is that we're so young in so many positions. Some first-year players and some players playing the sport for the first time. It's such a learning curve for us but we've got to stay focused and confident we're going to continue to improve as the season goes on."

Buffalo Grove d. Prospect: The visiting Bison came away with a 25-16, 23-25, 25-19 decision that left them alone in second place in the MSL East with a 4-1 mark at the halfway point.

Ethan Soifer (12 kills) and Brian Franz and Clark Haikal (8 kills apiece) led the attack for BG (10-13 overall), while Kyle Orton (13 assists) and Scott Mahon (14) handled ball distribution duties and Michael Lohse had a team-best 12 digs.

Hersey d. Rolling Meadows: The visiting Huskies came away with a 25-14, 25-23 victory to remain perfect in the MSL East at 5-0.

Jake Mailloux (10 kills) and Joe Nugent (9) led the attack for Hersey (11-2 overall), and Camran Saeed was 9-for-9 with 5 kills.

Christian Hong led the way with 15 digs and Jakub Migus finished 35-for-36 setting with 22 assists. Migus and Nugent both had 2 blocks, and Mailloux (9-for-9 serving 2 aces) and Nugent (11-for-12 serving, 1 aces) were sharp in the service game.

Key performers for Meadows included Arthur Barczak (19-for-21 hitting, 7 kills, 2 blocks), Max Schertler (16-17 hitting, 6 kills), Billy Psarros (11-for-11 serving, 1 ace, 7 assists) and Charlie Behrens (5 digs).

Schaumburg d. Conant: Ryan Regier provided a team-best 10 kills to go with 6 digs and an ace to help the Saxons prevail 25-20, 25-18 in MSL West play. Brian Kirschbaum (8 digs) and Nathan Thomas (18 assists) also had key roles for Schaumburg.

Wheeling d. Elk Grove: Host Wheeling prevailed 25-20 in MSL East play, netting their third straight divisional win.

The Wildcats were buoyed by 30 digs from libero Joseph Hernandez, while Jared Moser had a team-best 10 kills and Mario Lamonto had 5 on 8-for-8 hitting.

Leading the effort for Elk Grove were Mark Wickstrom (7 kills), Shivam Amin (6 kills) and Ed Gonzalez (13 assists, 3 aces).

Vernon Hills d. Maine West: The host Cougars squared their overall record at 8-8 by picking up a Central Suburban North win over the Warriors.

"We survived some shaky early ball control, settled down, and then really had some nice offensive flow," said Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry.

John Otoo finished with 3 kills on 5 swings and Joey Reyes produced 4 on 9.

"We we started to pass with a little consistency, we were able to run the middles, and that alos opened things up for Derrick Jones on the right side (9 kills on 15 swings).

Curry, whose team is now 1-2 in the CSL North, still wants to see his team make some net gains.

"We still need to find a way to block more consistently," he said. "It happens too rarely for us to be successful all the time."

St. Patrick d. St. Viator: The host Lions came up short in their East Suburban Catholic Conference opener 25-18, 25-18.

Top performers for St. Viator (5-10 overall) included senior Billy Mueller (4 kills, 4 digs) and senior Will Heneghan (5 kills, 10 assists, 5 digs).

"We had a tough match, hung in with St. Pats - but lost our focus on simple things," said Lions coach Katie Post. "Communication and serves will be our focus moving forward. We have more conference games to come and I feel like we have the potential to bring home some big wins in future matches."

Barrington d. Hoffman Estates: Gabe Hartke and Ben Ridgway both supplied 7 kills and Chris Babicz had 4 in help the visiting Broncos to a 25-16, 25-23 decision in MSL West play.

Evan Carroll led the way 15 assists and Thomas Chapman had a team-high 6 digs for Barrington, which completed the first half of West Division play without a loss.

Downers Grove South d. Leyden: DGS posted a 21-25, 25-20, 25-17 win over the host Eagles (9-7, 0-1), who were led by Robert Elem (9 kills), Jason Kemp (8 kills), Tom Radziszewski (9 kills) and Rodrigo Caldera (33 assists).