Boys volleyball: Glenbrook North, Vernon Hills find bright spots at Northside invite
It didn't take long for Vernon Hills boys volleyball coach Chris Curry to figure out how many years his program has battled in the Northside invite.
"Since the first year (2000-01) of our school's existence," he said Saturday after Vernon Hills finished in sixth place at the two-day, 16-team tourney held at Glenbrook North, New Trier and Vernon Hills.
"I love this tournament," he added. "It always has the best competition in the state."
Last year's best team in Illinois sparkled on Saturday. Reigning state champion Glenbard West topped the first place pool on Saturday, downing New Trier 25-20, 25-21. York defeated Stevenson 25-23, 25-23 for third place.
Curry's crew fell 23-25, 25-22, 25-20 to host Glenbrook North in the second place pool final, which determined the invite's fifth-place finisher.
Spartans senior middle Lance Lai struck his fifth kill on match point.
"We'd been inconsistent," Glenbrook North coach Chris Cooper admitted after his club improved to 18-6 overall with a 4-1 tourney mark. "But I saw consistency this weekend. The whole tournament was pretty satisfying for us.
"I'm really proud of my players."
Senior outside hitter Connor Durst paced GBN's attack with 9 kills, while junior outside hitter Evan Uhlig popped for 5. Senior setter Colin Schaefer finished with 24 assists, and junior defensive specialist Ben Schoehberg, who also saw time at libero, had 12 digs and smacked 3 aces.
"I messed with the lineup a bit," Cooper said, adding his regular libero, senior Kyle Peisert, played DS, and junior DS Jacob Phillips competed at libero at times.
"Ben, Kyle and Jacob did a good job adjusting to new roles," Cooper said.
The highlight of Vernon Hills' Saturday was its 25-19, 14-25, 26-24 defeat of Barrington in a bracket match. The Cougars (22-6) trailed by 5 points late in the third game and used a 6-0 run to ignite their comeback.
"We showed so much energy on match point," Cougars senior middle and co-captain David Rzepa recalled after his errorless 6-kill, 2-block match against Glenbrook North.
"The best part of the day was seeing everybody smile immediately after we defeated Barrington," said VH junior setter Brian Kim, who lofted 26 assists in the fifth-place match.
VH senior outside hitter David Wu hammered a team-high 9 kills against GBN. Senior hitter Max March had 5 kills on the 6th of May, 1 more than classmate Evan Kim's total. Senior DS and co-captain Evan Hessel amassed 14 digs, and junior middle Ben Miller thumped a match-best 4 aces.
"He has found his groove as a server," Curry said of Miller. "As a team, we showed really good signs of resiliency. We didn't let mistakes or moments of miscommunication get to us."
Both Rzepa and Brian Kim were encouraged by VH's execution of deep corner shots. Improving another aspect of the team's game would thrill the pair and likely ensure a deep playoff run.
"We need to feed our middles more," Kim said.
Hersey defeated Barrington 25-14, 25-22 for eighth place on Saturday. Oak Park and River Forest edged Libertyville 25-23, 20-25, 25-21 in the match for ninth place, while Lake Zurich and Maine South took 11th-12th, respectively, in that Third Place pool. The Fourth Place pool included Glenbard East (13th place), Warren (14th), Niles West (15th) and Lake Forest (16th).
Only players from the first place pool earned all-tourney recognition: Glenbard West's Casey Maas and Andrew Ellis; New Trier's Tristan Macpherson and David Wolff; York's Jack Bute; and Stevenson's Sam Nuudel.