Boys volleyball: Lake Zurich gets past Stevenson

Billed as the two best servers in the area, Bartosz Wielgos of Lake Zurich and Stevenson's Will Sorenson went at it in the Libertyville regional semifinals Tuesday night.

Both had their moments on the line. In the back of the minds of the Lake Zurich team was the two defeats the Patriots pinned on Lake Zurich during the regular season.

Lake Zurich (24-13) will represent the North Suburban Conference on Wednesday against top-seeded Deerfield for the regional title.

The Bears got 10 kills from Wielgos and stopped the Patriots, 25-18, 25-23.

"It was a team effort,'' said Lake Zurich's Evan Bajerski. "Our bench even helped us out."

"Our defense was really good tonight,'' Wielgos said. "We really captured the momentum in that first set and carried it over in the second set."

The first set was knotted at 5-5 when Wielgos unveiled his fierce jump serve. Two aces went up on the board. Two blocks from Marcel Wiechnik and a kill from Lukas Pytlak and the Bears were up 10-6.

The Bears' lead was startling at 18-11 on a rare soft shot from Wielgos and an ace from Pytlak.

"We made some errors tonight'' said Stevenson coach Eric Goolish. "But Lake Zurich has no shortage of talent at lot of positions."

Stevenson (27-9) cut the LZ lead to single digits on a service ace from Michael Johnson.

The second set saw Pytlak at the serving line. He had a pair of blocks from Bajerski and 1 block from Wielgos. It was 5-1 Bears.

It was 13-8 when another tough server, Logan Schaedel, went to the line. He had a pair aces and a block from Wiechnik.

Then it was Sorenson's turn to bring out the big serve. That was at the same time the fearsome kills of Gavin Meng got hot. Sorenson had a pair of aces and the Pats were on top 16-15.

The last tie was at 22-22. Naturally, Wielgos closed the match for the Bears with a kill.

Wielgos and his teammates watched Deerfield eliminate Warren in the first match of the night.

"Deerfield is really consistent,'' he said.

Wiechnik also added a comment on Deerfield.

"They have a good serve,'' Wiechnik said. "And they have a really talented setter."

Lake Zurich coach Lesly Ravenscraft, also viewed Deerfield.

"They have big boys at the net,'' she said. "And they pass well."

Bajerski had 3 kills and 3 blocks. Wiechnik had 4 blocks. Schaedel had 3 aces and a block. Pytlak had 3 kills and an ace.