Boys volleyball: Glenbard West wins second consecutive state championship

Johnny Winkler soared in to pound down Paulie Bischoff's set, and with that Glenbard West concluded a boys volleyball season that, by the numbers, was the most dominant in Illinois high school history.

Repeating as state champion Saturday at Hoffman Estates High School with a 25-15, 25-15 win over New Trier, the Hilltoppers finished 42-0 to tie Wheaton Warrenville South's 2012 squad for the best single-season record, one of five unbeaten state champions since the state series began in 1992.

No team, however, has played a season without losing a single game, as Glenbard West did this year.

"Our goal wasn't to go 84-0 with sets. Our goal was just to win every single match and I think with the mentality we had in every set we were able to get that done," said the Stanford-bound Bischoff, who had 15 assists with 7 digs in his final prep match.

"We've worked so hard for this all season and I just would like to say thank you to our whole community, our players that worked so hard in practice, and I just think it's awesome. I'm still trying to soak this moment in, it's crazy," Bischoff said.

He was "expecting" to lose a set in Saturday's semifinal round to Sandburg, he said. It nearly happened.

The second game was a 32-30 dogfight capped by a Winkler kill and a Sandburg error. Those 32 set a record for points in a state final tournament, joining Glenbard West's running state record of 61 consecutive victories since its last loss on May 2, 2015, to Benet.

"Our coach (Christine Giunta-Mayer), she pushes us to find new goals and to break records from everyone in years past," said middle hitter Will Church. "It's really tough to do because, again, we finished first in state last year."

Not so fast, said New Trier (36-6). Outside hitter Henry Lindstrom got the Trevians off to a 6-0 start Game 1 of the title match with 3 service aces and a kill plus two Hilltoppers errors.

"That was exciting to come out and just be so strong," said Lindstrom, whose 8 kills led New Trier. "I think that gave us a lot of hope, but obviously it just kind of peaked there. We weren't able to keep it consistent throughout the game."

"We called a timeout, we got aced again, so we just kind of had to recuperate as a group and get that pass up to the setter," said Glenbard West's Loyola-bound Kyler Kotsakis.

"That was the most important part, because we know if you have a good pass our offense is pretty good. All we had to do was just get that pass."

Glenbard West quickly righted the ship behind service runs from Bischoff and Sean Farmer, and though another Lindstrom ace pulled the Trevians within 17-14, the Hilltoppers closed on an 8-1 run.

Likewise, Game 2 was close early but the efficiency of Bischoff's sets and conversions by Winkler, Robbie Murphy, Church and Kotsakis, who led all players with 11 kills, surpassed that of New Trier, which had more attacking errors than kills in both games.

"We had to play a pretty perfect game. I was impressed by that," New Trier coach Sue Ellen Haak said in tribute.

Perfect seasons are impressive.

"I am taking a very deep breath right now, I am exhausted," Giunta-Mayer said. "It is really hard to coach a team that's that talented. They're very talented. And you have to challenge them and challenge them in practice like it's your job. That is my job."

Now the job is, as Bischoff said, to soak it in.

"I'm ecstatic," Kotsakis said. "This is the most amazing ride with the best group of guys ever. I could not be happier. This is the best way to end high school I could possibly imagine."