Boys volleyball: Barrington regains MSL West crown
A selective memory served Barrington’s boys volleyball team well Thursday night.
The Broncos have been fueled by seeing a Mid-Suburban West title streak of 11 seasons end last year. But they had little time to dwell on a 6-point deficit midway through the third set against defending champion Conant.
There were a few more twists left but a cross-court kill by Northern Kentucky bound senior Sam Grozdic returned host Barrington (16-5, 8-1) to the best in the West with a 21-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory.
“It feels amazing after last year,” said Barrington senior setter Carson Skinner, who had 24 assists and 5 digs. “That was a little devastating. This year feels so much better.”
Conant (17-6, 6-3) led 14-8 and 15-11 on 1 of 9 kills by senior Bryce Grogan in the final set. Barrington responded with an 8-0 run led at the net by sophomore Matt Kravstov (16 kills, 3 aces) and senior Oliver Harvey (6 kills).
“One of our biggest things is having a short-term memory,” Skinner said.
“Our mentality is pretty much to go for the next ball,” Kravstov said. “Mistakes don’t matter because you can always come back.”
Conant did the same from deficits of 10-5 to win the first set and 21-17 to tie the third at 22-22. Grogan’s kill cut its deficit to 24-23 before Grozdic’s match-winner.
Senior Tanish Bolleddula (30 assists, 11 digs) set up freshman Kaloyan Kotev (9 kills) and senior Deyan Krumov (8 kills) for the Cougars, who beat Palatine in three sets Wednesday.
“Barrington’s a good team and competitive and these are the matches you’re looking for going into the postseason,” said Conant coach Drewann Reibel. “Overall our setter (Bolleddula) did a good job of running the offense and reversing the ball. When we get things going offensively we’re pretty good.
“It would have been nice to get this one but we’ll learn from it and continue to get better. I’m proud of the team because they always compete, they’re getting better and better and hopefully peaking at the right time.”
Barrington also wants to be at its best in the postseason so coach Charlie Spry said MIT-bound middle hitter Matt Louis was resting with some shoulder stiffness. Spry liked how “other people stepped up” such as Jimmy Lau (7 assists), Robert Jensen (7 digs), Garrett Rohlwing and Achyuta Shah.
“Conant is a really solid team,” Spry said. “It’s good to see the fight come out and we’re starting to learn how to do it a little bit more. We weren’t doing that early in the season and we were giving up on ourselves.”
Skinner and Kravstov said some practice changes have made a difference.
“We do a lot of drills that include grit,” Skinner said.
“We’ve been training to do this for so long,” Kravstov said. “We’re focusing on playing together as a team instead of individually.”
Which has Barrington back in the MSL title match against East champion Prospect on May 20.
“Our team is a lot more connected in a big way,” Skinner said. “This year it feels like a family and we’re all best friends.”