Boys volleyball: Palatine outlasts St. Charles East in sectional semifinal
No lead was safe Friday in the semifinals at the Fremd boys volleyball sectional in Palatine.
Both St. Charles East and Palatine found themselves trailing by serious deficits all night. In the end, it was Palatine who came out on top, outlasting the Saints 27-29, 25-20, 28-26.
With the win, Palatine (33-4) tied a school record for wins. The Pirates, who are seeded second, will meet top-seeded Glenbard West (35-3) for the title on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
"That is a resilient team over there," Palatine coach Dan Gavin said of the Saints. "We were resilient too. Our group is a also a group that believes in each other and plays for each other."
In the first set, St. Charles East (24-10) pulled a card and came away with a royal flush to beat 4 aces.
Palatine built a 21-14 lead thanks to 4 aces by Curtis McLennan (9 kills, 7 aces).
"The serve just felt good today," McLennan said. "Something happened. Our communication stopped."
St. Charles East closed to 24-20 when the Saints rattled off 5 consecutive points as Jacob Stark had 4 kills inside. The set was tied three times from there before the Saints pulled out the 29-27 win.
In the second match, Palatine surged ahead 16-8 behind the play of Nate Jones (12 kills), whose blocking inside took away much of the Saints' offense.
"Once we got back into it, we were all playing together," Jones said. "There is nothing like it when you are playing like a team."
The Pirates hung on for a 25-20 win in the second set with Ben Rinella (5 kills), Aaron Spaletto (5 kills) and Thomas Lambke also coming up big for Palatine.
St. Charles East appeared to be in command in the third set. The Saints built a 14-9 lead thanks to the strong play from Stark (11 kills) Mikelis Brunovskis (10 kills), Neehar Shah (5 kills), Colin Hanley (3 kills and Bayden Slavik (3 kills).
It was the Pirates' turn to rally, thanks to a huge contingent of Palatine students who were on hand to encourage their Pirates not to fall further behind.
"It meant a lot to us to have them all out here tonight," said Palatine's Timmy Matijevic, who had 12 kills and 2 aces. "They brought the momentum and the hype for us. They kept us motivated to win for them."
With that, the Pirates made their move, to slowly chip away at the Saints' lead as Palatine tied it at 21-21. A pair of kills by Matijevic gave the Pirates a 23-21 lead.
Then it was the Saints' turn to rally. The Saints tied the set four times, with the final time coming at 26-26 before a kill by McLennan and a forced error gave the Pirates the match.
"If your season is going to end, that's the way it needs to end," St. Charles East coach Kate McCullagh said. "We battled three games. There were no regrets. They left it out there."