Schaumburg regroups, serves up a win against Hoffman Estates
Schaumburg senior Nidhin Thomas was clearly enjoying himself at the service line Tuesday night.
So were most of his teammates.
The visiting Saxons served up 14 aces at Hoffman Estates to defeat the host Hawks 25-27, 25-13, 25-17 in the Mid-Suburban West opener for both teams.
"Every guy on this team has a great serve," said Thomas, who along with classmate Kevin McGinn had 5 aces.
Schaumburg (7-4, 1-0) shook off an extremely slow start to win.
"We were making a lot of errors in the beginning," said Saxons coach Jeff O'Brien. "We mishandled some digs and some sets, and were weren't playing very smart.
"In the second and third game we played smart, with very few mistakes."
McGinn had 9 kills, while setter Matt Stacy led a Hoffman Estates senior night effort with 5 kills, 4 assists and 8 digs.
"We came out with a lot of energy," said Hoffman Estates coach Dan Hutton, "something we hadn't displayed in our first few matches. The guys were excited to play tonight. Unfortunately after the first game, Schaumburg came out firing and had us back on our heels."
After three straight Thomas aces gave Schaumburg a late first set lead, Hoffman rallied to tie the game at 25.
Then a brilliant save from Daniel Ham led to a kill by Piotr Wrobel, and a Saxons hitting error gave the Hawks(1-6, 0-1) a one-set lead.
"It was a confidence thing," said McGinn of the first game defeat. "We knew what we had to do out there, but we weren't doing it. We finally got inside our own heads and came out and played like we know how to play."
Schaumburg dominated game two, then took control in game three when the hardest spike of the night - from Schaumburg's Shakur West - gave the visitors a 13-9 lead. A dump kill by Thomas followed, then a McGinn kill, and the Saxons were on their way.
The match winning point came, fittingly, on an ace from Dave Soham.
"The main thing was that we knew (from the service line) where to put the ball," said McGinn, "and we had the discipline to put it in the right place."
Kevin Lancor hit 4 kills for Hoffman, which honored Wrobel, Stacy, Brian Girard, Jordan Ehlers, Dhruv Gajaar and Handik Patel on senior night.
Libero Nick Biester was 11-for-11 passing for the Saxons.
"Something just clicked after that slow start," said Thomas. "Losing the first game woke us up."
Buffalo Grove d. Hersey: The host Bison passed an important early MSL East test with a 25-20, 25-21 decision over the defending divisional champs.
Athan Cruz (4 kills), Alex Pietras (4 kills) and Alex Franz (4 kills, 4 blocks) led the BG attack, while Zach Schnittker (16 assists) and Tullio Ruscitti (12 digs, 1 ace) excelled at libero for the Bison.
Josh Mailloux and Bart Migus came up with 7 kills apiece for Hersey, and Peter Wesolowski had 22 assists on a 68-for-70 effort.
Prospect d. Wheeling: The host Knights delivered a 25-13, 25-5 decision in Mid-Suburban East play.
Alex Rybak led the Wildcats (1-5, 0-1) with 4 kills, and Matt Schiferl had 11 digs.
Barrington d. Fremd: Justin Glader had 5 kills, James Tiao had 3 aces and T.J. Murray had 3 blocks to help the Broncos in a 25-17, 25-11 decision in the MSL West play.
Palatine d. Conant: The host Pirates got off to a winning start in the MSL West with a 25-14, 25-14 decision.
Conant's leaders included Tim Breiter (5 kills), Nate Armando (7 assists) and J.T. Levitt (15 digs).
Elk Grove d. Rolling Meadows: The visiting Mustangs surprised with a 27-25 victory in the first set before Elk Grove bounced back to win the next two, 25-21 and 25-11, in MSL East play.
Tommy Murphy (14 kills) and Logan Reese (5) paced the Meadows attack, while Enrique Avellaneda had 24 assists and Jose Cruz served 8-for-10 with 3 aces.