Boys volleyball: O'Shea, Palatine slow down Schaumburg
Palatine staged an epic rally Thursday night to cool off one of the state's hottest teams.
Schaumburg came into Thursday's Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball match against the visiting Pirates as winners of six of its last seven matches, including victories over Prospect and Libertyville at the Wildcats Invitational on Saturday.
The Saxons had defeated Palatine as well at Libertyville - but the Pirates were able to turn the tables.
Palatine senior Johnny O'Shea was extraordinary in leading the visitors back from a huge Set 1 deficit to win 27-25, 25-19.
"We play everything out to the last point," said O'Shea, who finished with 6 kills, 10 digs, 4 blocks and 3 aces. "We got behind but started playing more confidently and playing as a team. We trusted each other and started to play with high energy."
Schaumburg, which just missed out on the Libertyville tourney title in a tough three-game loss to Lake Forest, looked to be on its way to a Game 1 win after using a 10-2 run to take a 22-16 lead.
A kill from 6-foot-6 senior outside hitter Dan Kaszuba brought the Saxons to set point at 24-21, but Palatine came back to tie it at 24-24 after a block from sophomore Nate Jones.
The score went to 25-25 before 2 block kills from O'Shea gave Palatine the win.
"He's a special player," said Pirates coach Frank Stark of O'Shea. "Johnny is one of the most special athletes I've ever coached. He is a three-sport varsity athlete the last three years, and what makes him great is his attitude. He's always about the team and never about himself."
It was more O'Shea in Set 2 as the senior served up 3 consecutive aces to give Palatine a 5-point lead midway through.
Schaumburg (20-12, 5-4) was able to close within 16-15 and was about the knot up the game when its next block attempt landed just a smidgen outside the sideline.
Palatine (24-8, 7-2) then ran off 6 straight points and all of a sudden Schaumburg was chasing a 22-16 deficit.
A final net kill from Pirates junior setter Ben Rinella closed out the match.
"I think we had the energy taken away from us a little bit tonight," Stark said. "Schaumburg is playing way better now than they were earlier in the season, and they came out and created their own energy. Later on (in the match) we started focusing on ourselves and started playing together."
Schaumburg, on its senior night, started an all-senior lineup of Kaszuba, Brian Kirschbaum, Grant Behrens, Matt Hoppesch, Robert Grasse, Nathan Thomas and Brandon Garig.
"It's a great group," said Saxons coach Eric Melton of his upperclassmen. "They come to practice every day ready to work hard, they always play with the right mentality, and they support each other. It's a group of guys that the younger guys can look to see how they lead. We're happy to have them."
Barrington d. Conant: Michael O'toole (6 kills), Gabe Hartke (5) and Petar Lumovic (3) led Barrington on attack in the 25-20, 25-22 MSL West win as Evan Carroll (12 assists) and Matt Sarnowski (6 assists) shared the setting duties.
Hari Ramakrishnan led the back row with 7 digs, followed by Kyle Vasquez (4) and Cam Sorce (4). Cole Bower had 2 blocks and Luke Kolder.
Gabe Hartke served 3 aces for Barrington and Cam Sorce 1.
Fremd d. Hoffman: Fremd raised its record to 12-9 and 4-5 in the MSL West with a 25-14, 25-14 triumph. Setter Jacob Peterson was 36-of-36 with 16 assists as the attack was led by Jason Hajdukovic (10 kills), Aaron Peterson (5 kills) and Martin Michalski (3 kills)
Michalski led the defense with 9 digs while Hajukovic had 4 block kills followed by Justin Spiekermann (3) and Rocco Stella (2).
James Swan, Adeen Zamir and Jonathan Kolweier each had 2 kills for Hoffman Estates, and Chris Fermaintt had a team-best 9 digs.
Hersey d. Prospect: MSL East champ Hersey (25-3, 9-0) posted a 25-21 25-19 win as Jake Mailloux led the way on attack with 11 kills followed by Camran Saeed (5) and Joe Nugent (4), who had 5 blocks. Jakub Migus handed out 20 assists while Christian Hong led the back row with 10 digs.
Wheeling d. Rolling Meadows: Wheeling posted a 25-21, 17-25, 27-25 MSL East win.
Meadows was led on attack by Max Schertler (14 kills), Anton Groark (7 kills), Max Sobkowicz (5) and Arek Kleniuk (3) while Groark and Braden Muhr each had 1 block.
Jackson Brossett served 2 aces for Wheeling, which ws led in the back row by Erik Vinopal (14 digs), Kleniuk (10), Israel Barraza (8) and Max Schertler (8). Jackson Brossett handed out 25 assists.
Buffalo Grove d. Elk Grove: Attackers Brian Franz (9 kills), Ethan Soifer (4) and Marty Gross (3) led the way for the Bison, who prevailed 25-22, 25-16 to improve to 12-15 overall and 6-3 in the MSL East.