Schaumburg tops Hoffman in a thriller
Rarely has the phrase “neither team deserved to lose” been more apropos than Tuesday evening at Schaumburg.
With both the Saxons and visiting Hoffman Estates playing out of their minds in one of the most draining and thrilling matches in recent years, the home team gained a measure of revenge for an earlier loss with a 26-24, 23-25, 25-23 boys volleyball victory over the visiting Hawks.
The floor-shaking hitting of Schaumburg junior Andrew Stetter, who swatted 11 of his game-high 19 kills in a tense third game, helped the Saxons improve to 3-3 in the Mid-Suburban West and 11-10 overall.
“I told the guys coming in that they (Schaumburg) were going to give us a battle in their house — and they did that,” said Hoffman Estates coach Dan Hutton. “They’re a much improved team from the last time we played them (a 27-25, 26-24 Hawks home win).”
It was rally time for Schaumburg in the own building in the first two sets. The Saxons trailed by 7 points late in Game 1 before a furious comeback sparked by senior Sean Duminie (14 kills) gave them the win.
Schaumburg was down 24-16 in Game 2 but put a scare into the Hawks behind the service of Stetter. The junior’s rocket jump serves led to a 7-point Saxons run before Hoffman Estates could close out the game and knot things up.
“At that point,” said Stetter of the second-game rally, “I was trying to will our team to a win. We were all focused on playing the best that we could. In a game like this, even if you don’t come out on top, if you bring the energy it can carry over to your next match.”
With the teams trading points and sideouts in the deciding game, Schaumburg gained a leg up and a 4-point lead when a well placed tip kill by Pat O’Connell put the Saxons up 22-18.
But Hoffman Estates (7-9, 4-2) stayed close, and when junior Gabe Alvelo scored a block kill the Hawks trailed just 24-23. Another hard hit by Stetter brought the match to an end.
“We weren’t executing our game plan in the beginning — we were letting them set the tempo,” said first-year Schaumburg coach Jeff O’Brien, who got 4 block kills apiece from Duminie, DJ Karbowski and Kyle Marks.
Stetter added 14 digs for the Saxons, while Hoffman senior Kyle Caldwell had an oustanding all-around match with 14 kills on 26-of-26 hitting, 7 assists, and 7 blocks.
Sophomore Jovi Pablo contributed 6 kills for the Hawks while Patrick Tednes recorded 18 digs and Franco Fumagalli had 6 blocks.
“I thought every one of our guys gave 100 percent, “ said Hutton. “We played outstanding defense.
“In our last three matches, though, we hadn’t allowed any big runs. We’ve been focusing on that and the guys have stepped up. But tonight we let them back into the match and that was our downfall.”