Conant serves its way by Palatine
After nonconference wins over Streamwood and Wheeling, Conant senior Nic Breiter said the Cougars' boys volleyball team wanted to turn its attention to getting off to a strong start in the Mid-Suburban West on Thursday night.
And it had one particular game plan in mind.
"I told our coach (Drewann Pancratz) we needed to focus on serving because that is one part of our game we can really accelerate at," Breiter said.
Sure enough, the Cougars stepped on the gas pedal in that department, missing only three serves en route to a 25-11, 25-10 triumph over visiting Palatine.
Breiter (13-of-15) and Dilan Patel (13-13) each put down 3 aces for the Cougars, who trailed for only 1 point (1-0 in set 1) the entire match.
"We got in a lot of serving reps in practice and that really helped," said Breiter, an outside hitter who also had 4 kills and 8 digs.
Conant (3-0, 1-0) surged ahead in the first set 6-1, getting four straight service points from Breiter, including an ace and kills from sophomore Nick Gutka (5 kills) and senior setter Dhruv Patel (17 assists).
A block by sophomore Michael Recko (6 kills) and service point by Dilan Patel extended the lead to 8-2.
"I just try to clear my head when I'm serving," said Patel, the Cougars' first-year libero, a senior who also collected 6 digs. "We're just out there trying to play together as a team."
The Pirates (2-6, 0-1) got to within 8-5 on an ace by senior Bobby Widlowski but Conant answered with a 5-1 run and never looked back. Dilan Patel finished off the set when he served for the final 5 points, getting kills from Recko and Gutka and putting down a pair of aces.
Dhruv Patel got the Cougars rolling again in the second set, picking up 4 service points, capped by Maks Zalesinski's kill off a set from Dhruv Patel for a 4-0 advantage.
A kill by 6-foot-4 senior Jackson Wheat off a set from 6-2 sophomore Alex Marshall and a service point by 6-4 senior middle blocker Noah Casillas got the Pirates to within 4-2. But that's as close as they would get as the Cougars went on a 21-8 run, capped by Dilan Patel's 5 service points to end the match.
Junior middle hitter Jacob Pietraszek added 5 kills for Conant.
"The match came down to serve and serve receive," Pancratz said. "I thought we did a great job limiting our errors, especially compared to our first two matches. We served well and we passed well, and that was the path to our success.
"We spent a lot of time on serving in our last practice and it paid off big time. This was a great way to open conference. We talked about this being a good test for us and this is one step toward our goals."
Palatine coach Pete Gavin agreed about serve and serve receive game.
"They served and serve received well," he said. "They controlled that aspect of the game, through and through. It's very hard to do anything when you are out of system on every play.
"We are a team with a lot of talent and we are looking right now to get everyone on the same page. We said that we are going to get there. Right now, it is just taking a little longer than we had hoped to get where we need to be."