Bloom blossoms for Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove junior volleyball player Matt Bloom had an interesting bus ride to Rolling Meadows on Tuesday.
Bloom, who has been getting most of his practice reps at defensive specialist but is also the backup setter, was informed by Bison coach Matt Aiello that he’d be handling the setting duties against the Mustangs in the absence of regular starter Lukas Karch, who couldn’t play due to illness.
Not too much pressure for a guy who had never started a varsity match at setter before.
“I specifically didn’t tell him until we were on the bus,” said Aiello with a smile after BG beat Meadows 26-24, 25-15 in the Mid-Suburban East. “I didn’t want him thinking about it too much.”
The junior acknowledged he did let it get to him a bit before the BG bus got to Meadows, but once there, Bloom said it was all business.
“I was a little nervous, but that only lasted until warmups,” said Bloom, who gave a clutch performance with 23 assists. “Once the game started the butterflies were gone.”
“I wasn’t worried at all,” said Aiello. “Matt’s a skilled, athletic player and he fits right into the system we have in place here, and he’ll be the starter for us next season.”
Meadows senior Steve Kay led the Mustangs, who hung tough for most of the match, with 7 kills on 14-of-16 hitting.
“Steve’s been playing some great volleyball,” said Meadows coach Tim Piatek. “He’s been the backbone of our team, and he’s also been providing us with some outstanding senior leadership.”
Meadows came out agressively and suprised the Bison in Game 1 behind stellar defense from libero Peter Nickle and the hitting of Kay and sophomore Kevin Murphy (5 kills) by grabbing a 24-23 lead.
But BG (10-3, 5-0) wouldn’t let Meadows close things out and a block kill by 6-foot-8 junior Sam Wacker gave the Bison the win.
Meadows was right in the thick of things again in Game 2 before a flurry of spikes by Bison hitters Jamie Schnittker (10 kills) and Chris Shanahan (8 kills) sparked BG to the win.
It was the 35th consecutive MSL East victory for BG, but Aiello says that’s not a focus for himself and his players.
“As far as we’re concerned, after tonight, our streak is 1 and 0,” said Aiello. “That’s all we care about, and now we’ll go back to practice, come out Thursday and try to go 1 and 0 in our next match.”
Sophomore Mike Maley was 13-of-13 on serve for the winners while Wacker finished with 4 blocks.
Brett Frey set 54-of-54 with 17 assists for the Mustangs (2-9, 0-5), who are still seeking their elusive first conference win but saw signs of better things to come Tuesday.
“We’ve been improving every match,” said Piatek. “It’s difficult when you don’t get a win, but we’ve been competitive every time out. We’ve taken a lot of teams to three games and wound up losing by only a couple of points.
“Tonight, in the first game, was the best volleyball we’ve played all season, and that’s encouraging.”
Hoffman Estates d. Conant: Kyle Caldwell was 15-for-15 hitting with 10 kills and Patrick Tednes had a team-best 10 digs as the visiting Hawks prevailed 25-21, 25-16 to improve to 4-1 in MSL West matches.
Zach Lindeman had 5 kills for Conant (4-11, 2-3), which got a 36-for-36 setting effort and 10 assists from Brian Stone.
Schaumburg d. Fremd: The visiting Saxons (9-10, 2-3) earned their second divisional victory of the season with a 25-15, 25-17 decision.
Fremd (2-13, 0-5) got 3 kills apiece from Dan Szwiec and Tom Cordell.
Prospect d. Elk Grove: The host Knights earned their second divisional victory of the season with a comeback effort. Prospect (5-12, 2-3) lost the first set 25-21 before prevailing in the second two, 25-15, 25-17.
Senior outside Dan Hoffman had a team-best 12 kills and junior setter Pat McIlwee provided 16 assists for the Knights.
Hersey d. Wheeling: The visiting Huskies earned an MSL East win, 25-21, 28-26.
Nick Wienold had 8 kills, Matt Hellstrom had 14 digs and Matt Cayton was 58-for-59 setting with 20 assists for Hersey.
The Wildcats (8-12, 2-3) got 8 digs from Nate Lichtenberger and 5 blocks and 4 kills from Kevin Leska.