Vernon Hills weathers Mundelein’s determined effort

It was a night of exciting news at Vernon Hills.

First, right side hitter Martin Niemczewski made it official by signing his name on a volleyball scholarship to Ball State.

And there was also the news that the Robinson boys will be reunited against next season at Irvine Valley College in California. That means both Thomas and older brother Mike, now at Minnesota, will play more volleyball together next season.

And based on all that excitement, the unbeaten Cougars (9-0, 2-0) went out and hammered eight-game loser Mundelein rather easily on Wednesday night.

Not so fast. It looked like a blowout early before Mundelein began to serve hard and block well.

Vernon Hills stayed unbeaten with a 25-17, 26-24 win over a determined Mustangs team.

“That was probably the best we blocked all season,’’ said Mundelein coach George Dressen. “When we play with confidence we are tough. We’ve proved that this year.”

Niemczewski also gave some credit to the guests from Mundelein.

“They were very solid defensively,’’ Niemczewski said. “They were very consistent.”

The match started a full half-hour later than scheduled due to a three-set match by the junior varsity team. And then the Cougars looked ready to make quick work out of the Mustangs.

On a kill from sophomore Michael Heinz it was 23-12 Cougars. That’s when Blake Burton went into serve for Mundelein.

Aided by a block by setter Victor Magana, the Mustangs scored some points and gave themselves some momentum heading to the second set.

“Mundelein looked good,’’ said Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry. “They really served us tough.”

Parker Tortorello (8 kills) opened up the second set with a kill and Mundelein was off and running. With Tortorello serving, the Mundelein lead expanded to 15-11 as this senior notched a pair of aces.

The visitors’ lead was 18-13 but Curry still didn’t stop the bleeding by calling timeout.

“My team hates timeouts,’’ Curry said. “Thomas (Robinson) hates timeout. We are playing three sophomores and at times things fall apart.”

The last Mundelein lead was 20-18. Robinson went into serve for Vernon Hills and got help from an Evan Borden kill (5 kills). The final set was knotted at 24-24 when Niemczewski went to the serving line. He scored 2 points for the win the final point of the night was notched by setter Ryan Opitz on a kill.

Niemczewski led the Cougars with 7 kills. Robinson checked in with 7 digs.

Niemczewski shared blocking honors with Borden with 3 blocks each. Sophomore Max Spiglanin added a pair of blocks. Opitz checked in with 19 assists.

Mundelein welcomed back setter Magana, who played his first match of the season following an injury. Corey Flores helped out with 2 kills, 5 digs and a serving ace. Sophomore libero Samuel Nelson led the Mundelein defense with 10 digs.