Barrington wraps up West title early
The stage is set for a teriffic Mid-Suburban League boys volleyball championship match.
Led by junior setter Taylor Ganzer’s 22 assists and some typically unselfish team play, Barrington clinched its first MSL West title since 2008 with a 25-14, 25-23 victory over host Hoffman Estates on Tuesday.
Even though there are still two division matches left to play, both the Broncos and East champion Buffalo Grove already have their respective crowns sewn up and will face off May 18.
“It’s going to be an exciting night,” said Barrington coach Rob Ridenour of the chance to compete for a conference title. “It’s always fun to play in front of your peers.”
“It’ll be historic,” said Broncos senior opposite Kyle Darch. “In our gym, we have a board that shows all of the Barrington conference championship teams over the years, and it would be nice to see our team up there.”
Ridenour knows the Broncos wouldn’t have been in this position without the emergence of Ganzer, who won the starting setter position after a stellar performance at, coincidentally, BG’s early season tournament, the Bison Battle.
“Taylor’s improvement, and the steps that he’s taken,” said Ridenour, “are the single most important keys to our success this year.
“He’s worked super hard, and his accomplishments are a tribute to his work ethic.”
Ganzer, who started setting in the seventh grade at Station Middle School in Barrington, gives most of the credit to his teammates.
“This is an extremely talented team,” said the junior. “By far, this is the best overall line of hitters that I’ve set for.”
Tuesday night, the Broncos had to hold off a frenetic comeback by the Hawks to claim the win.
Barrington, behind senior outside Matt Logue’s 9 kills, cruised through Game 1 and had a big lead in G2 before a Hoffman Estates rally led by senior Kyle Caldwell and sophomore Sean Habel brought the Hawks to a 23-23 tie.
But the Broncos stood firm, and a spike by middle blocker Jeff Hochstein (7 kills) and an ace by senior Ben Koziol closed out the match.
Nine players (Darch, Ganzer, Logue, Hocstein, Ryan Sarkar, Austin Czarnecki, Charlie Kingwell, TJ Shanahan, and Tommy Leonard) had kills for Barrington, while Czarnecki produced 9 digs and was 11-of-11 on serve receive from his libero position.
Shanahan had 4 kills and 3½ blocks as the Broncos improved to 20-5 overall and 8-0 in the West.
“We’ve just been taking it game by game,” said Darch, who said he and his teammates didn’t even realize they’d won the West crown until Ridenour informed them during the postgame meeting. “We’re all going to be excited to be playing Buffalo Grove. They’ve got a sensational hitter in (Chris) Shanahan, and shutting him down will be our top priority.
“But our main focucs will be to come out and play as well as we can. If we play our best, we’ve got the talent to get the job done.”