Boys volleyball: Kubon's hot service streak helps Hersey hold off Prospect

Last year, Hersey boys volleyball coach Laura Gerber used Greg Kubon only as a serving specialist.

Now the junior is a full-time player and he used that serve to help propel Hersey to a win in its Mid-Suburban East opener over visiting Prospect on Tuesday night.

With the third set tied at 12-12, Kubon served for his longest streak on the varsity - nine straight points - and the Huskies never looked back in a 26-24, 26-28, 25-16 triumph at the Carter Gymnasium.

Kubon's big service streak that made it 21-12, the biggest lead for either team all night, included 2 aces and kills from classmate Justin Arrowood and senior Connor Krebs.

Arrowood smashed two more back-to-back kills to make it 23-14 before Richie Johnson's ace extended the lead to 24-14.

Back-to-back kills by Prospect senior Will Klimek made it 24-16 before an error ended the match and gave Hersey (3-0, 1-0) its third straight win and first at home.

"It was nice to be home after getting two wins on the road," said Arrowhead, who appreciated the turnout of students to watch the opener. "It was nice to see how many people were here to support us."

Kubon's support at the service line hardly surprised Gerber.

"He did a really nice job only serving for us last season," said Gerber, whose daughter Paige, a former Prospect standout setter, coaches the Hersey freshmen team. "He's new to playing varsity full time and he did a great job tonight. It's going to be great to have him for two seasons."

Prospect (1-2, 0-1) got off to a great start, taking a 10-4 lead in the opening set with the help of 2 kills from Marc Ruffolo, a block by Luke Cook and a kill by Luke Cradduck.

But Hersey rallied behind the serve of Dylan Kim, who strung together 5 straight points, including the final one on a kill by Kubon to even the set at 10.

After 11 ties, the score was even at 24 when Hersey's Alex Sulewski produced a kill and a block to give the Huskies the hard-fought win in Set 1.

Prospect built a 13-7 lead in Set 2, thanks to three straight service points from Klimek, one being an ace. Hersey evened it at 13-13, thanks to five straight points from Naveen Samuel.

After the 12th tie produced a 26-26 tie, kills by Ryan Cook and Luke Cook gave Prospect the 28-26 win. Ben Schram and Daniel Derengowski had key serves for the Knights at the end of the set.

Samuel served Hersey to a 4-0 lead (2 kills and a block by Krebs) in the final set.

But Prospect came back and made it close until Kobun's big run.

"The match kept going back and forth and I was just kind of waiting for them to come into their own," Gerber said of her players. "Coming out of spring break we had a little bit of a slow start but I thought they did a nice job."

Kobun did his job at the service line during crunchtime.

"I kind of felt the momentum," he said. "I knew if I got the serves we could keep growing the lead. It was a nice way to start the conference season."

Prospect comes right back to play at Buffalo Grove on Wednesday.

"Player for player, I think our two teams (Prospect and Hersey) were very equally matched," said veteran Knights coach Mike Riedy. "They were a little more mentally prepared. We got backed into a corner (during Kubon's service run) and struggled mentally to get out of it."