Warren pieces together epic win
The road to the championship match of the Lake County Invitational was not an easy one for the Warren boys volleyball team Saturday afternoon at Vernon Hills.
The Blue Devils survived a 25-22, 21-25, 25-20 three-game victory over Deerfield in the Gold Division semifinals to advance to the Gold title game against Stevenson (9-5).
The Patriots defeated Highland Park 25-22, 25-22 to reach the Gold finals against Warren (19-2), but they could not topple the Blue Devils despite some outstanding play throughout the match.
Stevenson built a 10-3 lead over Warren in the first game only to see the Blue Devils go on a 12-2 run with a tapped shot by Mike McNally making the score 15-12.
Warren pulled away for a 25-19 victory in Game 1 only to fall behind the Pats 7-0 in Game 2.
But once again the Blue Devils prevailed as they scored the final 2 points of the match for a 25-23 victory and the Lake County crown.
McNally and 6-5 senior teammate Ryan Schuette were big factors for Warren throughout the two-day tourney as were teammates Mike McGowan and Tyler Schwede.
"We were pretty confident we could beat all the teams in this tournament, but Stevenson was definitely better than we thought after losing a big senior class," said Schuette, whose team went 5-0 this weekend. "So far our season has turned out pretty well and we just have to make sure when it means something we keep playing well."
Jason Giecek helped serve Stevenson back into the second game to tie the score at 23-23, but a net violation on the Pats ended the match.
"Warren is a very good team and they're probably the best team here," said Stevenson coach Tim Crow, whose team beat Carmel to open the day. "When you get down against them they have a lot of weapons offensively. But we'll take 4-1 in this tournament after being seeded fifth or sixth."
Warren coach Yun Chen was very pleased with his squad's persistence after trailing big in many games.
"In the first game we had a lot of errors and Stevenson came out and played tough, and they will always fight back," said Chen, whose team has a rematch with the Pats on Monday. "Ryan (Schuette) played well and McNally really stepped up big in the last match."
In the Silver Division championship, Carmel posted a 25-21 victory over the host Cougars and never looked back as the Corsairs won the second game 25-16 for the Silver title.
Senior middle hitter Josh Garwood and junior outside hitter Dave Bowles were huge factors for Carmel (7-6) in the second game as Vernon Hills (11-5) could not contain the Corsairs' aggressive offensive attack.
"Josh Garwood just had an outstanding tournament and Vernon Hills really didn't have an answer for him," said Carmel coach Kevin Nylen, whose team also beat Mundelein on Saturday. "All of our hitters were very consistent, we got the lead we needed, and they decided to take over the (second) game after an emotional first game."
In the Bronze Division championship, Mundelein (5-8) defeated Barrington (3-5) in two games for the crown.
"We won our first match of the tournament and we won our last one and they started gaining their confidence back against Barrington," said Mundelein coach George Dressen. "Our setter Tim Tokarz stepped up especially in this last game and he led the team with 5 blocks."