Conant captures close one over Palatine
Conant had been in this situation before.
The Cougars were close or tied late in several matches this year but just fell short at the end.
Thursday night at Palatine, they reversed the trend with a well-earned 25-10, 14-25, 25-23 Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball victory.
"We've lost some close games this year," said Conant senior Peter Lauterbach (6 kills, 12 digs). "It's good to get a win like this."
Setter BJ Boldog had 23 assists for the hard-luck Pirates, who came back strong to win the second game and take a lead in Game 3 - but couldn't sustain the rally.
"Inconsistent play is killing us," said Palatine coach Frank Stark. "We had some moments of brilliance out there, but we've got to learn to play a full match."
It was all Conant in the first game as the Cougars, led by the hitting of Dan Dewar (6 kills) and the setting of Drew Fisher (18 assists) opened up a 16-4 lead en route to the win.
Palatine (4-5, 1-2) recovered in Game 2, as Nat Pearson served up 3 of his match-high 4 aces. Then the teams got down to business in earnest in Game 3.
"I think we lost momentum in the second game," Lauterbach said. "I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there were a lot more mistakes than in the first game."
A block kill by Fisher gave Conant (9-6, 2-1) the advantage midway through the deciding game, but the Cougars had to rally after Boldog's kill gave Palatine a 21-20 lead.
With the score tied at 23-23, Dewar hammered a kill that was blocked out of bounds by Palatine. Then Fisher leapt high above the net to block a Palatine spike attempt and put the match in the win column for the Cougars.
"Even after we lost the second game, we didn't get down," Dewar said. "We kept our heads up, kept moving, kept the energy level up and minimized our mistakes."
Prospect d. Wheeling: Kevin Reed and James Hoffman each pounded out 8 kills and Mike Gembow added 7 as host Prospect defeated Wheeling 25-13, 25-20 in MSL East action. Sean Baltowski added 2 aces, and setter Kevin Wolter contributed 23 assists for the Knights (9-4, 3-0). For Wheeling (5-7, 0-3), Dan Hene had 7 kills and Nate Lichenberger served up a pair of aces.
Schaumburg d. Hoffman Estates: Behind 4 aces and 7 kills from Glenn Frost, visiting Schaumburg toppled Hoffman Estates 25-14, 25-23 in the MSL West. Setter Neal Goyke had 15 assists for the Saxons (5-9, 1-2).
Buffalo Grove d. Hersey: Buffalo Grove (13-3, 3-0) posted a 25-17, 21-25, 25-22 MSL East victory as Nick Baronti (16 kills), Chris Shanahan (13) and Chris Falknor (13 kills) led the Bison attack.
Jack Welter and DJ Carroll each had 8 kills for Hersey.
Barrington d. Fremd: Barrington won the three-game MSL West match with Randy Lorenz (13 kills), Jake Nixon (12 kills) and Joe Davidson (9 kills) leading the attack. Christian La Bar had 33 assists and 3 blocks.
Trevor Clark and Brian Allen had 13 and 12 kills respectively for Fremd (7-2, 2-1). Michael Smearman had 35 assists.
Rolling Meadows d. Elk Grove: Meadows (6-3, 1-2) won 25-16, 25-21 over Elk Grove, which was led by Szymon Gierut (6 kills) and Garrett Greaves (5).
Baseball
St. Viator continued its offensive onslaught as it scored in double figures for the fourth straight victory and beat host Schaumburg 15-9 in nonconference action.
Brett Kay went 4-for-5 to lead an 18-hit attack for the Lions (8-4). Eric Walantas went 3-for-4, Julian Sipiora was 2-for-2 with 4 RBi, Cory Kay had 2 doubles and Jake Mastrangeli and Mike Fleming had 2 hits apiece.
Tim Massat went 3-for-5 and Dave Compitello was 2-for-4 as the Saxons (6-4) lost their third in a row.