Boys volleyball: Conant wins with pulse-pounding comeback

The first set for Conant in its boys volleyball match Thursday against visiting Schaumburg was a great example of Murphy's Law for the Cougars.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the home team, but that didn't worry Conant coach Steven Peter.

"I could see that individually the guys were going to dig deep," said Peter. "They talk a lot about playing with heart, and I think this game was all about heart tonight."

Conant (7-11, 4-2) lost set one big and watched Schaumburg get to match point in set two.

But the Cougars staged a big rally to score a 12-25, 26-24, 25-21 Mid-Suburban West win.

"We always start slow," said Conant junior setter Nick Weishaar. "We started (after the first set) to play smart and upped our focus. That was the key."

Schaumburg, which was led by a strong defensive effort from libero Nic Lazarevic (15 digs, 18-of-20 passing), dominated early but fell short in the final 2 games.

"You've got to give Conant props," said Lazarevic. "They came back with a bunch of energy. We came back with energy too, but you can't take anything for granted. Every game is a new game, and Conant showed that tonight."

"We made a couple of errors at the wrong time," added Saxons coach Jeff O'Brien.

Schaumburg needed only one more point to put the match in the win column when a kill by Andrew Norris put the Saxons up 24-22 in the second set.

But Conant scored the next 4 points, finishing the set off on a well-placed shot from senior Nicholas Pope.

"We practice hard, and we practice being down and coming back," said Cougars junior outside hitter Tim Breiter. "We were strong tonight when we needed to be."

The deciding set stood at 20-all when a lefty kill by junior Nanak Chadha gave Conant the lead.

Three consecutive errors from Schaumburg followed, and although Lazarevic gave Schamburg some life with an incredible bump kill, Breiter closed out the match with a definitive spike.

Eddy Pertitis and Sam Smith both had 8 kills for Schaumburg, which fell to 4-20, 2-4 in the West.

Breiter had 8 kills for Conant, while Weishaar added 12 assists.

"They really came together tonight," said Peter of his team. "They kept pushing together for points and that was the difference."

Barrington d. Hoffman Estates: The visiting Hawks took the middle set, but host Barrington was ultimately able to prevail 25-17, 24-26, 25-15.

Jack Ridgway and Evan Carroll had 12 assists apiece for Barrington, while Ethan Carroll (8 kills) and Josh Babicz and Mikey Stefan (5 kills each) paced the Broncos' attack and Michael Hagan, Stefan and Ethan Carroll came up with 8 digs apiece.

Hoffman Estates got a big blocking effort from Cederian Jones-Stevens with 6. Other key contributors were Alan Zapinski (4 kills, 4 assists), Miguel Pineda (4 assists, 9 digs) and Michael Swan (8 digs, 3 kills).

Palatine d. Fremd: Senior Andrew Padilla went 14-for-14 serving with 3 aces and had a team-best 6 digs to help the host Pirates to a 25-13, 25-23 MSL West triumph.

Zach Wheat and Johnny O'Shea both finished 13-for-15 on the attack and both had 7 kills, while Jake Boldog led the way with 21 assists.

Fremd's top producers included Aaron Kuhlman and Tyler Larson (6 kills each), Patrick Kurka (9 digs) and Kaleb Scharman (16 assists).

Hersey d. Rolling Meadows: Angelo Coniglio swatted 13 kills and Vince Reisel went 51-for-52 setting with 27 assists as Hersey improved to 13-3 overall and 5-2 in the MSL East with a 25-20, 25-19 decision over the visiting Mustangs.

Wheeling d. Elk Grove: The visiting Wildcats picked up their first win in MSL East play 25-22, 25-14.

Matt Schiferl had a team-best 13 digs, while Tyler LaRosa had 7 kills and Oleg Boyanivskyy had 4.

Kyle Bagarella had 6 assists and Sono Tsogtbaatar had 5 assists, 8 digs and a 14-for-14 serving effort for Wheeling (5-19, 1-6).

Leaders for the Grens (4-11, 2-5) included Shivam Patel (3 kills), Ed Gonzalez (13 assists, 10-for-10 serving), Anthony Prochenski (19 digs) and Tom Sulima (2 blocks).

Buffalo Grove d. Prospect: The host Bison stayed perfect in divisional play with a 25-22, 29-25 decision.

Zach Schnittker led effort for BG (16-9, 7-0) with a 10-kill effort on 15-for-17 hitting. Ian VanWazer and Danny Zickert had 4 kills apiece, and Daniel Rogowski had 3, while Blake Maley was 10-for-10 serving with an ace and Brian Lynch went 9-for-10.

Liam Benson (9 kills) and Michael Poulos and Patrick Szuba (3 each) led the attack for Prospect, and Scotty Baackes had a team-best 14 assists along with 9 digs.

St. Viator d. Notre Dame: The Lions improved to 14-5 overall and 3-0 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference after a 25-12, 25-11 decision.

Nathaniel Cull (12 kills) and James Woods (11) led the hitting effort,while Max Hogan led St. Viator in blocks with 4 and Collin Cull generated 31 assists on a 56-for-56 setting effort.