Boys volleyball: Barrington holds off Schaumburg
Barrington was able to turn things around just at the right time Thursday at Schaumburg.
The Broncos were a point away from dropping the opening game against Schaumburg. Barrington then rallied for a 26-24 victory in Game 1 and then cruised for a 25-15 victory for a two-game Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball sweep.
“We weren't quite ready,” Barrington coach Neal Ridenour said. “And a lot of that is on me. I threw a lot at the guys in practice on Wednesday and changing things up. But the guys responded.”
Gabe Hartke, who would finish with 9 kills, said that a poor practice on Wednesday led to a poor start for the Broncos.
“We had a rough practice and there was just a lack of focus,” said Hartke, who had 4 kills and 4 blocks for points in Game 1. “We able to turn it around and finish up that game strong. We we tire from practice and it translated into the first part of the game.”
Schaumburg (3-6, 0-2) came out firing on all cylinders in Game 1. Led by Ryan Reiger (6 kills, 2 aces), Isaiah Mitchell (5 kills) and Justin Banks (3 kills), the Saxons jumped out to 10-4 lead.
After a timeout by Ridenour, Barrington (9-5, 2-0) was able to close to 13-12. Again, Schaumburg began to pull away, and led 21-16. Another timeout allowed the Broncos to regroup as they recovered to close to within 22-21.
Schaumburg threatened to win the game, scoring the next 2 points as Barrington faced game point trailing, 24-21. But with Luke Kolder serving for the Broncos, they ran off the next 5 points with the final 3 coming on kills from Hartke to win 26-24.
“We just decided to take our own pace with the game and make it our game, “ Hartke said. “We regrouped and focused and finished up strong.”
Kolder also had 3 blocks for points in that game while Mark Lyon had a kill and block and Ricky Gibson had 2 kills for the resurgent Broncos.
“I thought Schaumburg was great in the first 15 points of the match,” Ridenour said. “I thought Gabe especially carried us in game one until we settled down. We were fine in game two.”
Schaumburg showed grit when the Saxons scored the first 3 points of Game 2 and led 4-1.
After that it was all Barrington.
Chris Babicz served for 9 consecutive points and Ben Ridgeway had all 4 of his kills in the second game as Barrington cruised to a 25-15 win.
“In the beginning of the night, our blocking was not there,” said Ridgeway. “We got our rhythm back and kind of dominated from there.”
Schaumburg coach Eric Melton said that his young Saxons are still learning how to win.
“We are learning every time we get on the court,” Melton said. “In the first set, the guys did everything we talked about doing. We have to figure out how to execute on the 25th point as we did in the first point.”