Boys volleyball: Barrington packs some punch against Palatine

The Barrington-Palatine boys volleyball match Thursday night had all the makings of a competitive heavyweight boxing bout.

The teams were tied for the lead in the Mid-Suburban West, both with 3-0 marks, and both came in with strong winning nonconference records as well.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, though, instead of a 15-round slugfest it turned into a virtual Barrington technical knockout.

Shaking off some early hitting woes, the Broncos came back to defeat visiting Palatine 25-18, 25-19.

Senior libero James Tiao led the way for Barrington with a strong defensive effort that included 9 digs.

"We're a balanced team this year," said Tiao, whose team improved to 10-5 overall and 4-0 in the West. "We've got some kids who jump high and are physical, but we're also down with our defense - we've improved so much from last season.

"We're still jumpy sometimes, but when we're still on defense and still on contact, we play really good."

Broncos sophomore Evan Carroll, in his first full time starting assignment as setter, pitched in with 27 assists.

"He played a very good match," added Tiao. "Evan really stepped up."

Palatine took a 3-point lead into the middle of the first set, but a 6-point Broncos run, led by Ethan Carroll on serve, erased the deficit and gave the home team a 3-point advantage.

Barrington went on to take a 1-set lead when captain Mikey Stefan, a senior opposite, put down the final kill.

"We had some moments of brilliance tonight," said Palatine coach Frank Stark, "but we've got to be more consistent. We had a lot of unforced errors, but Barrington forced us into a lot of errors as well.

"Barrington looked very good tonight, and we showed how young we are."

Palatine (11-4, 3-1) took an early lead in the second set, but the Broncos turned the tide after a couple of strong kills from Ethan Carroll, who finished with a match-high 8 kills.

Barrington opened up a late 23-15 lead in the final game before Palatine fought back behind a 2 kills from Camden Hill and a couple of Barrington hitting errors. But a long Pirates serve attempt that sailed out of bounds brought the game to match point.

A final hit from senior Joe Roeckell put the contest in the win column for Barrington.

"We've made some changes (defensively)," said Barrington coach Rob Ridenour, "and we're looking better. We've got some guys in the right places.

"I thought offensively we mixed it up very well, and our middles Josh (Babicz) and TJ (Murry) played great. They controlled the match."

Babicz also contributed 8 kills, while Ethan Carroll had 7 digs on defense.

"Coach R told us to stay calm - to get excited about the match, but not so excited where we were out of control," said Tiao. "We wanted to focus on what we've been working on in practice and on giving 100 percent effort.

"When our serve receive is going well, we're a hard to team to beat - and our serve receive was on tonight. We passed the ball well and that made things easier on our setter."

Despite the loss, Stark said he saw some some bright spots for the Pirates.

"Johnny O'Shea (a sophomore) did a nice job again tonight," said Stark. "He was hitting the ball all over the place, and Jake (Boldog, a senior setter) was great from the service line."

Prospect d. Elk Grove: The Knights produced a 25-20, 23-25, 25-20 victory in MSL East action.

Scotty Baackes produced 24 assists, a pair of aces and 4 kills for the winners.

Top producers for Elk Grove were Kevin Braceros (17 kills, 11 digs), Brendon Rathman (11 kills, 3 blocks), Shivam Patel (5 kills), Anthony Prochenski (13 digs) and Ed Gonzalez (36 assists).

Schaumburg d. Fremd 25-20, 25-21: Sam Smith and Dan Kaszuba both had 7 kills as Schaumburg netted its first MSL West win of the season.

Nic Lazarevic had 8 digs for the host Saxons (2-12, 1-3), and Ever Ortega (10 assists) and Smith (9 assists) directed the attack.

Leaders for Fremd (4-6, 1-3) included Tyler Larson (6 kills), Aaron Kuhlman (5 kills, 3 blocks), Patrick Kurka (9 digs) and Kale Scharman (11 assists).

Hersey d. Wheeling: Angelo Coniglio and Matt Hopkins both generated 9 kills to help the host Huskies in a 25-22, 25-19 decision in MSL East play.

Hopkins also had 4 blocks, while Vince Reisel provided teammates with 25 assists and Justin Hong had a team-best 13 digs.

Conant d. Hoffman Estates: The Cougars prevailed 25-19, 26-24 in MSL West play.

Hoffman Estates got a team-best 5 kills and 11 digs from Daniel Ham and 9 assists from Alan Zapinski.