Lakes, Libertyville pull off upsets
It will be an all District 128 final come Tuesday night in Gurnee.
Both Vernon Hills and Libertyville pulled off upsets of volleyball teams with more than 30 wins. Vernon Hills went three games to topple top-seeded Buffalo Grove on Friday night at the Warren sectional.
Tuesday’s championship match is at 7 p.m.
In Friday’s second match of the night, rising Libertyville beat rival Stevenson for the first time in four outings this spring.
In the opener, Vernon Hills (34-4) stunned top-seeded Buffalo Grove 25-18,18-25, 25-18.
“Our guys knew we would have beat the best team Buffalo Grove has ever had,” said VH coach Chris Curry. “We just needed to focus and do our jobs.”
The match brought together arguably the two best setters in the area. Vernon Hills senior Justin Opitz registered 41 assists, while Lucas Karch had 23 assists for the Bison.
“We were all on the same page,” Opitz said. “We really stayed together, and it’s a lot easier to play like that.”
Mid-Suburban League champion Buffalo Grove (32-6) seemed to have trouble with Vernon Hills’ versatile attack. The Cougars had strong hitting nights from Martin Niemczewski (11 kills), Thomas Robinson (14 kills), Garrett Kubacki (7 kills) and Mikey Kelly (6 kills). Joseph Ho added help in the middle with 7 blocks.
“We were a little slow tonight,” said BG coach Matt Aiello. “They were trapping our hitters and our passes were off. To their credit, they blocked well.”
As much as Vernon Hills (34-4) dominated Game 1, BG came back in Game 2. On a Jon Ward kill, the Bison opened up a 21-16 lead.
On a Jamie Schnittker kill, Buffalo Grove had evened the contest up at one game each.
The decisive third game was knotted at 11-11. That’s when the Vernon Hills blocking game turned on. Ho and Kubacki combined on one block kill. When Ho and Niemczewski teamed up on another block, the Cougars’ lead was 18-14.
Robinson’s kill ended the match.
MSL West player of the year Chris Shanahan led the Bison with 14 kills. Sam Wacker added 9 kills.
From the stunning upset of Barrington, the suddenly dangerous Libertyville Wildcats took only two games to stop Stevenson 25-23, 25-18.
The Wildcats (24-15) now have knocked off the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds.
“We are coming together as a team,” said Libertyville junior Matt Tassler. “We knew we had a lot of potential at the beginning of the season. Now we are seeing a glimpse of that potential.”
Stevenson did play without the services of outside hitter Niki Antonijevic, but had strong outside hitting from senior Danny Gescheidle. The Patriots (31-6) held several leads in Game 1. A big block from Libertyville junior Brandon Leatherwood ended a tight Game 1.
On a kill from Stevenson setter Zachary Kravits, Stevenson opened an 11-8 lead in Game 2. However, on kills from Tassler and Eric Handrich and a block from Brian Bonamarte, the Wildcats grabbed a 14-13 and didn’t look back.
Vernon Hills is another team that beat the Wildcats during the regular season.