Hoffman's hitting helps Prospect stop Meadows

Prospect outside hitter James Hoffman was 31-of-33 on attack with 16 kills Tuesday night against visiting Rolling Meadows.

But even those gaudy hitting stats don't tell the whole story.

The senior finished 23-of-23 on serve receive, had 6 digs and was a perfect 13-of-13 from the service line as the Knights survived a wounded Meadows team 21-25, 25-22, 25-17.

"I thought James played a phenomenal match," said Prospect coach Mike Riedy. "He passed well, served well and hit well, and his leadership made the rest of the guys step it up."

Weston Genovese and Tyler Vinezeano each had 8 kills for the Mustangs, who were missing starters Kyle Weiner (broken arm) and Ryan Kedzie (ankle sprain) due to injury.

Weiner is out for the season, while Kedzie hopes to return in 2 to 3 weeks.

"We were missing two key players, and that didn't help," said Meadows coach Janet Opels, "but we were controlling the match, then we went south.

"I'm upset bcause I know what these guys are capable of."

Meadows played virtually error free in winning Game 1, but Prospect (12-11, 4-2) rallied with 8 consecutive points in the middle of Game 2 to tie the match.

"That's happened a lot in the recent past," said Prospect libero Sean Baltowski (11 digs, 14-of-14 on serve receive). "It seems like we have to lose a game and get our backs up against the wall before we step up."

"Going on that run in Game 2 showed us we were capable of winning the match."

Meadows (11-6, 3-3) was down 14-8 in the second game but rallied to come within 3 points of a 2-game victory when a block kill from JJ McCarthy (3 blocks, 4 kills) helped the Mustangs forge a 22-all tie.

Then a huge block by Prospect junior middle hitter PJ Benson, a kill from senior Kevin Reed (12 kills) and a Meadows hitting error deadlocked the match.

It was all Prospect in game 3 as the Knights opened up an 18-9 lead and cruised to the win.

Nick Marek had 12 assists for Meadows while Brian Bourn pitched in with 11 and Brian Mulvihill had 16 digs.

Prospect setter Kevin Wolter finished with 32 assists while teammate Jake Suckow was strong in the middle with 4 blocks.

"After we lost the first game," said Hoffman, "we knew we had to improve our defense and our blocking - and we did that in the second and third game."