Vernon Hills wins at Maine East
Last season’s third-place team in the boys volleyball state tournament has picked up where it left off.
Vernon Hills won the Maine East tournament on Saturday, completing a 5-0 showing to improve to 7-0 on the season.
The Cougars netted wins over Elgin (25-13, 25-16), Niles West (25-20, 25-23), Lakes (25-13, 25-15), St. Patrick (25-16, 25-17) and Maine East (25-19, 22-25, 15-10).
Ball State-bound Martin Niemczewski (42 kills, 10 blocks) and sophomore Ryan Optiz (95 assists on .448 efficiency, 9 blocks, 9 digs) were both named to the all-tournament team.
Senior Thomas Robinson finished with 30 kills, 8 aces and 16 digs. Sophomore middle Max Spiglanin tallied 22 block kills and 26 digs to go with his 8 kills.
“We got to see all 14 guys on the roster out there in several sets today,” Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry said. “Early in the season, we want to evaluate what combinations work, who is comfortable in what spots, etc. We saw some good passing from junior outside hitter Chris Edwards. Junior Minho Park did some nice work at libero when we put him in for senior Jordan Porter. And junior Danny Rosenstock had some quality service runs and defensive work.
“There are a lot of pieces we can work with, just not a lot of varsity experience yet. We’ll get there.”
Lakes went 2-3 in the tourney to place fourth. The Eagles picked up wins over Elgin (25-20, 25-23) and Niles West (26-24, 25-20).
Chase Binkley pounded 32 kills and collected 28 digs for Lakes (3-4), while Alex VerHagen and Mason Solbrig added 26 and 24 kills, respectively. Sean Donovan posted a team-best 43 digs. Solbrig chipped in 10 blocks and 4 aces, as well. James Olson and VerHagen delivered 7 aces apiece, and Richard Galant dished out 74 assists.
At Hoffman Estates: After finishing first in its pool, Mundelein dropped matches to Oak Park River Forest (25-16,16-25, 25-23) and West Chicago (25-12, 26-24).
Mundelein (4-2, 3-2 tourney) received 51 kills from Parker Tortorello and 24 apiece from Blake Burton and Corey Flores. Burton also had 8 aces and 7 blocks. Jose Orozco lofted 99 assists (290 of 301).