No denying Buffalo Grove
This time Buffalo Grove wasn't going to be denied.
The top-seeded Bison erased the memory of last season's heartbreaking playoff loss to Mundelein with a 25-22, 25-22 victory over No. 2 seed Warren in the Stevenson sectional final Tuesday night.
BG (29-5), which advances to the Elite Eight finals at Hoffman Estates and will play in Friday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal against Oak Park-River Forest, earned the victory the hard way.
The Bison battled back from a 9-3 deficit in Game 1 and were trailing by 6 points early in Game 2 en route to their fifth Elite Eight berth and second in three years.
"I'm still shaking," said BG defensive specialist Matt Bronson (26 digs) after the win. "I can't even put this feeling into words."
Seniors Tyler Schwede and Ryan Schuette led the Blue Devils (34-5) on attack with 6 kills apiece.
"These guys have fought hard all season," said Warren coach Yun Chen of his team which beat BG in a 3-game regular-season match. "Tonight we got down one too many times. We could have done a little more, but one team had to win and one team had to lose."
BG still trailed Game 1 late when consecutive kills by middle Jim Wizniak and setter Tom Angerame (26 assists) put the Bison on top. Joe Ascher (10 kills) closed out the game with a hard spike.
Warren took back the momentum in Game 2 and when Schwede put one down its lead was 10-4.
Not to worry, according to BG senior Greg Wajda.
"You come back from big deficits by sticking together," said Wajda (7-of-10 on serve receive). "We came back in the first game so we knew we could do it in the second game."
A huge block kill by Angerame pushed BG ahead late in Game 2. A kill by Warren libero Gordon Booker cut its deficit to 23-21, but BG sided out and then Ascher closed out the victory.
"We talked about it," said Bronson of last year's Hersey sectional final match, in which the Bison led Mundelein late in Game 3 but saw the championship slip from their grasp.
"It was a terrible feeling -- it really stunk. We didn't want to relive that. We came out tonight and played our game."
Schuette and senior Derrick Norris each served up 2 aces for the Blue Devils while Booker recorded 11 digs and senior middle Mike McNally had 4 blocks.
"We had a tremendous season," said Chen. "This is the first time that a Warren team has had over 30 wins, and the first year that we've repeated as regional champions.
"I told our sophomores and juniors that they've got some big shoes to fill next year."
BG junior Chris Falknor contributed 7 kills on 17-of-21 hitting.
"When we got down," said BG coach Matt Aiello, "I told the guys to remember that teamwork got us here. It wasn't just Joe doing it, or Tom doing it -- we were all in this together.
"I can't think of a more deserving group of guys to go downstate."