Boys volleyball: Barrington gets defensive, outlasts Palatine

Libero Kyle Vasquez, a standout on defense for Barrington's boys volleyball team, said his team didn't lose its confidence Thursday night despite falling behind Palatine early.

"We talked about having to play our game," said Vasquez. "I trust my teammates a lot. I was confident that we could come back.

"We knew they (Palatine) have some talented outsides and some really strong middles," added the junior. "We just had to play defense around them and block around them."

The visiting Broncos dug themselves a hole by dropping the first set, but rallied for a 23-25, 25-10, 25-20 Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball win.

Barrington improved to 7-0 in the division.

"Come out stronger," said Vasquez about the Broncos response to losing game 1. "Play faster, don't let them come to us, take it to them, and play with intensity."

Vasquez led Barrington with 12 digs, and Broncos coach Rob Ridenour said he was impressed with his team's effort - along with the effort of the Pirates.

"The first 10 or 15 points that Palatine played tonight were as good as I've seen all year," said Ridenour. "They were ready to go and they played amazing.

"I'm really proud of our guys as well - for chipping away in the first game after we fell behind, and then settling in, in games two and three. Mike (O'toole) and Gabe (Hartke) did an amazing job leading our comeback, and Kyle and Petar (Lumovic) led the emotional charge."

Palatine was almost flawless through the first set, opening up a 21-12 lead on a kill from senior Johnny O'Shea at the net. But Barrington rallied to within 2 points before a Curtis McLennan kill closed out the set for Palatine.

Then the second game was all Broncos as Hartke had 5 of his 12 kills in the set.

"We had to take a step back after the first game and realize what we did wrong," said Barrington senior setter Evan Carroll, who was outstanding with 33 assists and 7 digs. "We had to play a lot harder than we did (in the first set) because Palatine really brought it tonight."

Carroll set O'toole, a 6-5 senior outside hitter, for 5 consecutive Broncos kills as the visitors opened up a big lead in the deciding set.

But the Pirates rallied to close within 21-19 after a McLennan kill.

Then the next Palatine serve was called out after landing just past the end line, and Barrington rolled off the last couple of points to win.

O'toole finished with a match-high 18 kills while Lumovic, a senior middle, recorded 7.

McLennan hit 10 kills for the Pirates (19-6, 5-2) and teammate Justin Wiesenmayer was 16-for-18 on service with 3 aces.

"Barrington is really the first team all year to block us as well as they did tonight," said Palatine coach Frank Stark. "They took us out of our comfort zone.

"When they starting blocking us, I think that their outsides started making adjustments, something that we didn't do. We struggled a little bit, but Barrington is just a solid team all around."

Hersey d. Wheeling: The Huskies added to their lead in the Mid-Suburban East by topping the host Wildcats 25-15, 25-17. Hersey holds a 2-game lead over Buffalo Grove with 3 divisional games remaining.

Jacob Mailloux came up with a team-best 9 kills for Hersey (17-3, 7-0), while Joe Nugent had 6, Camran Saeed 5 and Andrew Leno 4.

Jakub Migus provided 23 setting assists, Christian Hong came up with 13 digs and Brent Gurvis and Saeed had 5 blocks apiece.

Wheeling's Jared Moser was 18-for-26 on the attack for a team-best 9 kills. Joseph Hernandez led the way for the Wildcats (11-12, 3-4) with 8 digs, and Jared Urueta had 12 assists on 46-for-48 setting.

Rolling Meadows d. Buffalo Grove: The host Mustangs produced an inspired effort on their senior night, getting balanced hitting from Billy Tompkins (7 kills), Arthur Barczak and Max Schertler (4 apiece) and Max Sobkowicz and Jackson Brossett (2 each) in a 25-14, 28-26 decision.

Schertler led Meadows with 8 digs, while Billy Psarros had 12 setting assists.

Top producers for Buffalo Grove (5-2 MSL East) included Brian Franz (10 kills, 3 blocks) and Ethan Soifer (6 kills)

Conant d. Hoffman Estates: The host Cougars came up with a 25-20, 25-18 decision in MSL West action.

Hoffman Estates' top contributors included James Swan (6 kills, 9-for-9 serving, 6 digs), Chris Fermaintt (11 digs) and Adeen Zamir (5 kills, 3 digs).

Schaumburg d. Fremd: The visiting Saxons outlasted the Vikings 23-25, 25-23, 25-22 in the MSL West.

Fremd's top contributors were senior Aaron Peterson (10 kills, 3 aces, 8-for-8 serve receive), Martin Michalski (8 kills, 9 digs), Rocco Stella (3 blocks, 3 kills) and Jacob Peterson (78-for-80 setting, 26 assists).

Fremd's record is 10-8 overall and 3-4 in the West.

Elk Grove d. Prospect: The Grens went on the road to claim their first MSL East win, a 25-12, 23-25, 25-21 marathon.

Sophomore outside Mark Wickstrom had 10 kills and Shivam Amin had 8 for the Grenadiers (8-11, 1-6). Ed Gonzalez provided 21 assists, and Kevin Doyle came up with 5 kills, 2 aces and 8 digs.