Vernon Hills wins Cougar Classic

Vernon Hills wins title: Vernon Hills won its own Cougar Classic, earning the title for the fourth straight year and the seventh time in the last eight years. The Cougars defeated Highland Park in the championship game, 25-21, 25-16. Vernon Hills swept Glenbard West in the semifinals (25-23, 25-15) and also got wins over West Chicago (25-10, 25-23) and Whitney Young (25-13, 25-16) in pool play. The Cougars lost in pool play to Highland Park (14-25, 25-23, 15-7). Over five matches, Max Spiglanin led Vernon Hills with 38 kills and 35 digs. He also had 3 aces, tying Jake Baruch, Dylan DeBoer and Ryan Opitz. Opitz also rolled up 113 assists and 11 blocks and DeBoer had a 9-point service run in the title match against Highland Park. Lemuel Turner led the Cougars with a total of 21 blocks. Michael Heinz added 34 kills and 32 digs for Vernon Hills, which moves to 27-6 on the season. Heinz was big in the title match against Highland Park with 13 kills.

Lakes wins 3 at Evanston: Lakes went 3-2 at the Evanston Spring Fling Tournament. The Eagles defeated Marion Catholic (25-10, 25-21), Evanston (25-16, 25-17) and Lincoln Park (25-15, 25-23) and lost to Joliet West (24-26, 26-28) and St. Charles North (18-25, 22-25). Mason Solbrig rolled up 35 kills (and 10 blocks) over the tournament while Richard Galat added 22 kills and Alex Verhagen had 13 kills. Nick Powell led the way with 33 digs while Verhagen finished with 24 and Dalton Solbrig had 16 to go along with his 74 assists. Tom Richter had 7 aces for the Eagles.