Boys volleyball: Conant avenges Maine West loss to complete tourney 3-peat
When Conant's boys volleyball invitational was all over Saturday afternoon, the championship plaque stayed in Hoffman Estates with the host Cougars hoisting it for a third straight year.
Conant did it with a 25-19, 25-18 victory over a Maine West squad that had beaten them just two days ago in Des Plaines. That win allowed the Cougars to complete a five-game sweep of its opponents Saturday to move their record to 6-1 on the season.
"That's what these tournaments are about," Conant Coach Drewann Reibel said of her team's performance. "We're still figuring out who we are and we're working to get better everyday and these are great tournaments to help prepare us for (MSL divisional play) which we start next week."
After getting through their Blue pool undefeated by beating Lakes, Lemont, and Chicago Latin, the Cougars engaged with another Chicago school in eventual bronze medalist Taft in the semifinal.
In earning a trip to their third straight final, they beat the now 5-2 Eagles 25-18, 25-19 in what was a reverse of their championship match scores.
In each game they used an 8-3 surge to earn victory as senior outside hitter Bryce Grogan's 10 kills, 2 assists, and 1 block led the path forward followed by 5 kills apiece from fellow senior OH Daniel Ortega and senior right-sider Deyan Krumov.
Awaiting them in the final was the Red pool winning Warriors who in addition to Taft had also beaten St. Francis and Buffalo Grove.
Once again the host school used an 8-3 tear to pull away from Maine West (7-2) using a pair of kills by senior defensive specialist Taka Chinen and a kill and an assist by senior setter Tanish Bolleddula.
Game two saw Conant put together an 8-0 run that gave them control of the contest as they turned an 8-7 lead to a 15-8 advantage.
The Warriors would get no closer than 15-11 as Grogan's 7 kills paced the way with senior middle hitter Gabe Kipta adding another trio of kills for Conant.
Grogan (10 kills) credited Bolleddula's ability to run the Cougar attack as a big reason for the win.
"When we played them Thursday, our serve-receive was not always there,“ Grogan said. ”So (today) our serve-receive and our setting was there and Tanish had his sets on, so I was able to get done what I needed to get done."
Grogan, who celebrated his 18th birthday earlier this week by getting a tattoo of the biblical verse Peter 5:7 on his right arm, spoke of his team's successful finals strategy.
"At lunch break we kind of talked about the first three matches we played really well and going into the afternoon we knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, so we had to make sure to step up and keep our emotions limited,“ Grogan said. ”Be confident going in, but not let our emotions get the best of us."
Junior outside hitter Donovan Brown (3 kills) and senior setter Peter Dempsey (2 kills, 2 aces, 4 assists, 1 block) paced Maine West's effort.
Coach Mike O'Brill had his entire team watch Conant accept the championship award.
"I want them to be able to see that moment and envision themselves doing it because we haven't done it before," O'Brill said.
"It's one of those learning experiences of us running out of gas at the end there and we looked a little bit fatigued."