Boys volleyball: Grayslake North gets energy boost, victory against Antioch

Grayslake North was in desperate need of a power surge midway through the third game of Thursday night’s tense Northern Lake County Conference boys volleyball match with visiting Antioch.

The Knights got one by taking control at the net and turning a 5-point deficit into a 25-21, 22-25, 25-22 victory.

“Our team can get really dull at times,” said versatile Grayslake North senior Jack Calhoun, who had a team-high 7 kills, 11 assists and 3 aces. “We all have to really want it and pump up the energy. I felt in the third game we got into a rhythm and we were running more things.”

The celebration was on for the Knights (2-1, 2-0) after Calhoun set up sophomore middle Alan Jalloh for the match-ending kill. Tyler Hanna sparked Antioch (0-4, 0-2) to a 15-10 lead in a match where 5 points was the largest advantage.

“We have to have the power of believing in ourselves and what we can do and I thought we really did that,” said Grayslake North coach Nikki Kirchway. “We are deeper as far as our bench is concerned. We haven’t been this versatile in hitting ever.”

It showed down the stretch as senior Adam Petraitis started the comeback with 1 of his 6 kills. Sophomore Uros Mitrovic (6 kills), in his first year playing volleyball, had a couple of key blocks.

Calhoun’s kill started a decisive 6-1 burst for a 24-20 lead that included consecutive kills from sophomore Manny Hernandez and a kill by Nathanial Kiscellus after a big dig by Kevin Meyer. Junior Logan Smith also had 6 kills and junior Matthew Myszka had 12 assists.

“This is the first year we’re able to run a 6-2 (rotation) and Matt can set for me,” Calhoun said. “We have more variety in our offense.”

Antioch was missing a big part of its attack with Brady Kobb out sick and no one with any varsity experience prior to this season on the court. Hanna (8 kills) had an impressive stretch at the net in a 10-2 tear in Game 3, Brian Vo (7 kills) keyed a rally from a 21-20 deficit in Game 2 and Ryan Jilly had 17 assists.

“They played pretty aggressively,” said Antioch coach Jamie Atkinson. “I said going into Game 2 we need to keep taking steps forward and eventually those steps forward will become victories. Obviously we have a lot of room to grow, but they’re the type of team that will take reflection seriously and move forward.”