Schaumburg pleased with bounce-back win

In other circumstances, first-year Schaumburg boys volleyball coach Jeff O’Brien might have been a bit sentimental about facing Palatine, a team he starred for and helped led to a fourth-place state finish just 7 years ago.

But after a tough conference-opening loss Tuesday to rival Hoffman Estates, all O’Brien and his players could think about Thursday night was getting a win.

Upset to a man after their performance against the Hawks, Schaumburg took its frustrations out on the visiting Pirates, rebounding to score a 25-17, 22-25, 25-14 Mid-Suburban West volleyball victory.

“I think everyone saw what the key was tonight — energy,” said O’Brien, a 2005 Palatine grad. “We refocused and brought the energy that was missing against Hoffman.”

“We came out dead (against the Hawks),” agreed Schaumburg senior Sean Duminie, who was a force on attack Thursday with a match-high 16 kills. “We knew we had to just win today to make up for that loss.”

Junior Jason Kellermeyer pitched in for the Saxons with 12 kills, while Kevin O’Shea and Eric Gabbard led the Pirates in hitting with 8 kills apiece.

“It might have been a fun match to watch tonight, but we made too many mistakes,” said Pirates coach Frank Stark, who was O’Brien’s JV coach back in the day at Palatine.

“We’re a young team, though, and like I said before the season started we’re going to make some fundamental errors early — but we’ll come around.”

It was superior defense that led Schaumburg to the Game 1 win, as libero Matt Jarosz excelled with several athletic digs to stymie a Palatine rally.

Schaumburg (5-2, 1-1) almost won in 2, but led by senior setter Justin Ginter (62-of-64, 17 assists, 5 kills), Palatine scored the last 5 points of the second set to force a Game 3.

The Saxons used 3 consecutive kills by Duminie midway through the deciding game to break away from the Pirates, and Duminie had a final spike to give the win to the home team.

“It was a bad loss Tuesday,” said Jarosz, echoing the words of his coach and teammates. “I felt like all of us had to step up tonight, and we did that.”

Schaumburg setter Pat O’Connell finished with 28 assists and was instrumental in the victory, while Pirates junior Tommy Laabs served up 3 aces for Stark’s team, which fell to 5-3, 1-1 in the West.

And how did the long time Palatine coach feel about facing one of his former players across the bench?

“This was the first time that’s happened,” said Stark, a young guy himself. “Makes me think I’m getting old.”