Fremd, Prospect bow out of playoffs

Lake Park was taking on a formidable opponent in Mid-Suburban League champion Fremd in the semifinals of the Elgin boys volleyball sectional.

But it didn't matter who they were playing, according to junior Patrick Proctor, as long as the Lancers took care of business.

"We just had to stay focused and worry about our side of the net," said Proctor, "go with our game plan, and give 110 percent."

Friday night against the No. 2-seeded Vikings, Lake Park followed that scenario to perfection in a 25-20, 25-20 victory.

The Lancers advance to play Glenbard North Tuesday at 7 p.m. for the sectional championship. The top-seeded Panthers overwhelmed Addison Trail 25-22, 25-15 in the evening's first semifinal match.

"We started to get the feeling we could do this in the second game, when we went up 6-0," said Lake Park junior hitter Michael Kreiser, who hammered 5 kills in the win.

Senior Kyle Olszewski led the Lancers' attack with a match-high 11 kills, while Mark Lewan hit 7.

"We like to spread the ball around," said Lake Park coach Brad Baker. "We use all five hitters, and everyone stepped up tonight."

Junior outside hitter Jeff Chappell led Fremd with 7 kills, while senior setter Michael Smearman was 62-of-62 and dished out 21 assists.

"You always hope for your absolute best in a big game," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "We did play well, but it could have been better.

"Lake Park played a strong match. They were aggressive at the net, aggressive swinging, and they dug some balls off the floor that we thought were going down. They deserved to win."

After falling behind early in Game 2, Fremd was able to rally late behind a tip from junior middle Brian Allen and a couple of Lake Park hitting errors.

The Vikings got to within 21-17 but as was at the case most of the match, superior blocking by third-seed Lake Park, led by the 6-foot-5 Lewan (5 blocks) helped stem the tide.

"They were a tall team," said Kreiser, "but we didn't worry about that because we've got some great jumpers, and we really work on our blocking."

"We did block well," added Baker. "We recognized where their hitters were hitting, and we were able to close out on them."

"It's difficult to hit when you've got a couple of guys standing in front of you."

Six-foot-4 senior outside hitter Tyler Gustafson had 5 kills and 10 digs in Glenbard North's victory.

The Panthers overcame a couple of spirited Addison Trail rallies in both games to secure the win.

"This was awesome," said Gustafson. "We had a couple of rough patches, but we pulled through."

"I"m very pleased," said Glenbard North (23-8) coach Dedra DeBenedetti. "We're trying to take it one match at a time, and hopefully we've got a few more to go."

Adam Mark led Glenbard on attack with 8 kills, while setter Raemon Bisharat handed out 19 assists.

Addison Trail setter Chris Vazquez led the Blazers with 12 assists, 4 blocks and 5 digs.

"They (Glenbard) are a solid team," said AT coach Tim Murphy. "They played well."

"All year long, one of our constants was our passing, but tonight that fell apart at times. We count on our serve receive, and tonight it just wasn't there.

Maine South d. Prospect: It took a game, but Maine South showed why it is the top seed in its own boys volleyball sectional on Friday night against fifth-seeded Prospect.

After the Knights came back from a 21-15 deficit to win the first game 25-23, the Hawks took the final two games 25-17 and 25-15.

The biggest difference in the final two games was dominant net play by Maine South, which was led by juniors Eric and Matt Butch and Evan Bowler.

"Toward the end of that third game we couldn't get a block, couldn't get a ball down," Prospect coach Mike Riedy said. "Their defense got better as the match went on."

Eric Butch had a game-high 13 kills and Bowler added 7 for Maine South (32-6). Junior setter Mike Hejza had 31 assists.

Maine South coach Gary Granell said the Hawks made a lot of unforced errors in the first game of the match. Before the second game Granell said he talked to his team about not giving the Knights easy points off those errors.

"Defensively and keeping the ball in play we did a much better job of in the second and third game," Granell said. "I think our blocking definitely stepped up in those second two games."

When Prospect was successful it was because of good serves from juniors Mike Hammersley (3 aces) and Mike Gemkow (2 aces) and senior Kevin Reed (1 ace).

"We got in one rotation where their jump-server (Gemkow) was serving and kind of spinning into the corner and we weren't able to adjust," Granell said. "We made a substitution and luckily he missed the serve after that."

Prospect was down by 5 points or more twice in the first game and was able to come back to win it.

"Our serve got us through a lot," Riedy said. "Then one of those tough servers had trouble serving and served one out and then the errors kind of fed off each other."

Granell said the Hawks' ability to block is the key to their team, and Maine South was excellent on the block in the final two games.

"When we block well, we're a much better team," Granell said. "When our block is on, we are hard to beat because offensively I think we can stack up against any team."

Senior James Hoffman had a team-best 11 kills for Prospect while Reed added 10. Junior setter Kevin Wolter had 25 assists for the Knights.

- John Juettner