Buffalo Grove third at WW South Tiger Classic
Buffalo Grove's volleyball team finished third in The Tiger Classic at Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday, defeating St. Rita 25-20, 21-25, 25-11 in the third place match.
The Bison (8-3) were beaten by eventual tournament champion St. Louis DeSmet 25-22, 25-22 in the semifinals and topped Marist 25-16, 25-19 in the quarterfinals.
Nick Baronti had 24 kills and 3 blocks Saturday and was named to the all-tournament team.
"We play fast. We have a diverse offense," said BG coach Matt Aiello. "When we play with momentum and speed, we're pretty hard to beat.
"DeSmet is also a fast team. Today, we didn't play all that great against them. We should have dictated the pace a little bit more. We have a young team but we're more talented than last year's team."
Sophomore Chris Shanahan had 14 kills against St. Rita and 30 on Saturday. Chris Falknor also had 24 kills in the three matches and Dan Wichmann was 204-for-205 setting with 83 assists.
"Nick Baronti looked good today and senior captain Chris Falknor looked good," Aiello said. "Offensively we stuck with (DeSmet) and frustrated them as much as they frustrated us. But we let them put the pressure on us. We had to play catchup the whole time.
"When you're playing against the top teams in the area you can't dig yourself a hole."
BG had finished fourth in the tourney three times.
"Our guys realized we're probably one of the top two or three teams in the state," Aiello said. "This was a good growing experience for us."
DeSmet beat defending state champion WW South for the title.
- Neil Shalin