Falknor, McEvoy a hit with new-look BG

Buffalo Grove outside hitter Chris Falknor and middle Mike McEvoy weren't starters on last season's regional championship team, but they were able to gain some valuable playing experience, especially late in the year.

That seasoning, especially in pressure situations, is helping Falknor and McEvoy make big contributions now.

Both players were outstanding in Tuesday night's 25-14, 25-21 victory over a talented Rolling Meadows team.

"I learned a lot just from watching the guys play last year," said Falknor, a junior whose older brother Tim was a setter on BG's 2006 squad that placed fourth in state. "We had such a great team."

Falknor was 16-for-21 hitting with 8 kills against the Mustangs and BG also got clutch contributions from Joe Ascher (10 kills), libero Matt Bronson (10-for-10 on serve, 2 aces, 17 digs) and senior setter Tom Angerame (63-of-63, 24 assists.)

"It defintely helped," said Bison coach Matt Aiello of the play of Falknor and McEvoy down the stretch in last year's playoff run. "They didn't come in to this season wide-eyed."

McEvoy, who helped BG build a big early lead in game 1 against Meadows, got some extended minutes as a starter in the 2007 playoffs as he subbed for Jim Wizniak, who was out at the time with an injury.

"We have high expectations for them," said Aiello, "and their ability to get playing time last year helped them know what it's like to play at this level."

BG (11-4, 3-0) led all the way in Game 1 and built a 17-11 advantage in Game 2 before Meadows rallied.

Kills from Ryan Kedzie (5 kills) and Matt Vinezeano and a Kedzie ace brought the Mustangs (4-4, 1-2) to a 19-19 tie, but a well placed tip by Angerame, a Wizniak block and a couple of Meadows hitting errors helped BG put the match away.

"We've played a lot better," said Vinezeano. "This wasn't our best game."

"Our passing was great and our offense was good most of the time, but our defense killed us. Buffalo Grove is a good team -- they've got some good hitters, especially number 13 (Ascher) and a great setter (Angerame) -- but we'll be ready to play next time."

Tyler Vinezeano added 7 blocks for Meadows, libero James Tamraz had 8 digs and Brian Mulvihill finished 9-of-9 on serve receive.

"This is the fastest paced game we've seen all year," said Meadows coach Janet Opels, "and we had trouble adjusting to the pace.

"We never got anything going. We struggled with our serve receive, and in the first game we played somewhat nervous -- but then we settled in. We finally started to get our hands on a lot of balls on the block after we adjusted to the speed of the game."

Palatine d. Barrington: Josh Rustman and Nat Pearson had 11 kills apiece, Josh Graham had 7 kills and Ron Lampen had 6 kills and 6 blocks as Palatine (10-5, 3-0) won 24-26, 25-21 and 25-23 in the MSL West.

B.J. Boldog hit all 109 sets for 38 assists for the Pirates. Randy Lorenz had 11 kills and Chris Michelotti added 10 for Barrington.

Wheeling d. Hersey: Chris Schaeffer (9 kills, 14 digs), Paul Desmond (8 kills, 10 digs), Tom Devitt (7 kills) and Alex Tapas (82-for-83 setting, 26 assists) led Wheeling (7-10, 1-2) to a 25-20, 17-25, 25-19 MSL East win over Hersey.

Kevin Taylor had 20 digs for the Wildcats. Griffin Dwyer's 13 kills and Kevin Cayton's 19 digs led Hersey (3-6, 2-1).

Conant d. Hoffman: Conant (10-3, 2-1) recovered to beat Hoffman Estates 22-25, 25-18, 25-12 in the MSL West.

Peter Lauterbach had 10 kills and 15 digs, David Kim had 18 digs and Drew Fisher got 8 kills for Conant. Hoffman got 10 kills from Max Martin and 7 kills from Tyler Davis.

Elk Grove d. Prospect: Bryan Skwirut had 10 kills, Robin Philip got 12 digs and Jon Condon had 23 assists and 10 digs for Elk Grove (9-1, 2-1) in a 25-20, 25-22 MSL East win.

Scott Pickle's 9 kills and Joe Colmone's 10 digs led Prospect (6-4, 0-3).

Schaumburg d. Fremd: Kyle Aragon got 10 kills and Alex Christy added 9 kills for Schaumburg (11-9, 1-2) in a 26-24, 25-22 MSL West win.

Kevin Prest had 6 kills for Fremd (8-6, 1-2).

St. Viator d. Joliet Catholic: Patrick Carney's 8 kills and 5 blocks and Tim Rast's 8 kills led St. Viator (4-6, 1-0) past Joliet Catholic 25-21, 22-25, 25-19 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference opener.