Elk Grove wins Rolling Meadows Invitational
It was a long day of volleyball at the Rolling Meadows Invitational, with the proceedings starting at noon and the last kill being put down a few minutes before 9.
But most of the competitors — especially Elk Grove — didn’t seem to mind a bit.
The incredible early season run for the Grenadiers continued unabated Saturday, as they won the title at the Meadows tourney only days after ending Buffalo Grove’s four-year undefeated streak in the Mid-Suburban East.
Elk Grove won all five games at the invite, defeating Riverside-Brookfield 25-15, 27-25 in the championship match.
“What a great day,” said Grens junior Jake Braceros. “We had a new lineup today, and it was exciting to see the way we were able to push through and persevere.”
“It has been a good week,” added Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz, as the Grens won 7 matches overall to improve to 10-3 on the year. “It was a bit of surprise Tuesday (at Buffalo Grove), but coming in here today I felt we would competitive.”
It turned over to be a very good day as well for a couple of other MSL rivals.
The host Mustangs won 4 of 5 matches, losing only to Fremd, while the Vikings enjoyed their best day of the season thus far.
Fremd advanced all the way to the gold division consolation match, where it defeated Addison Trail 28-26, 25-20 to claim third place in the 12-team invitational.
Vikings junior setter David Kim was 36-of-37 with 16 assists in the win over AT while senior outside hitter John Morrison swatted 8 kills.
It was the first time all year that Fremd had its entire starting lineup take the court.
“It made a big difference,” said Vikings coach Curt Pinley of getting two starters back in the lineup. “The other guys had been doing a great job filling in but today we were able to put everyone in their proper positions.”
Bartlett and St Viator each claimed two tournament wins, while Maine West bounced back in impressive fashion.
The Warriors dropped two intense, close matches to Rolling Meadows and Bartlett early in the day, but defeated St Joseph, Streamwood and Waukegan in the Bronze division round robin.
“After playing two tough games against a couple of gold/silver teams,” said Maine West coach Randy Tiller, “the guys relaxed a little in the last three matches and I think that helped them out quite a bit.”
“We were too tense against Meadows and Bartlett,” agreed Warriors sophomore opposite Ryan Van Wees. “After that, we started to play together as a team.”