Lakes repeats as NLCC boys volleyball champion

Connor Clowers had 11 kills and 9 digs, and Lakes' boys volleyball team defeated visiting Grayslake Central 25-23, 25-17 to secure its second consecutive outright Northern Lake County Conference championship on Thursday night.

Clayton Nix pounded 9 kills and served an ace for the Eagles (13-15, 8-2), and Tyler Donovan delivered 23 assists. Donovan also tallied 5 digs and 2 blocks. Lakes' other contributors included Eric Jones (6 digs), Ethan Metzelaar (4 blocks ,1 ace), Broderick Solbrig (2 kills, 1 block) and Michael LeBaron (10 digs, 1 ace).

Grayslake Central fell to 12-14 and 7-3 in the NLCC.

Grant d. Antioch: Derek Kolb had 10 kills, as the Bulldogs won 25-20, 26-24 in Northern Lake Couny action.

JP Gizowski had 4 aces and 22 assists for Grant, Garrett Seymour slammed 7 kills, and Ian Fox contributed 2 blocks and 4 kills.

Vernon Hills d. Highland Park: The Cougars won 25-20, 17-25, 25-20 to improve to 12-16 and 4-5 in the Central Suburban League North Division.

"A few days after giving less than our best effort, it was good to see the guys engaged, active, and best of all adapting as the match went on," Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry said. "We're going to need that as we host a tournament this weekend. And especially if we want to do anything interesting in the state tournament.

"We've been running different lineups, different combinations, all year," Curry added. "At times, I think it's frustrated the guys, all the searching, but now we have a number of lineups we can switch to if we need. We ran a different combination out there for the third set tonight, and it solved a problem we were having. Hopefully, our versatility becomes a strength down the stretch."

Wheeling d. Mundelein: Abram Nazario's 7 kills weren't enough, as the Mustangs fell 25-19, 25-22 in nonconference action.

Mundelein (15-14) also got 4 kills from Tyler Vander Ploeg and three from Eric Morales.