Boys volleyball: Barrington downs Palatine to take MSL West lead
Ved Anand helped Barrington impale Palatine.
Anand, who has been moved around in the Broncos' new offensive scheme, had 7 kills and a block to lead Barrington past Palatine 25-23, 25-20 Tuesday in Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball action in Barrington.
"I think our defense did a great job of stepping up," said Anand, who along with Gabe Hartke, Ben Ridgeway and Ricky Gibson forced Palatine into 14 hitting errors in the match.
"It wasn't our cleanest game, but we made the plays we needed to."
The win moved Barrington (18-7, 7-1) into sole possession of first place in the MSL West and the Broncos now lead Palatine (26-4, 6-2) by a game. The Broncos could clinch a tie for the West title with a win over Fremd on Wednesday.
"We were excited about the match tonight and a chance to see Palatine again," said Barrington coach Rob Ridenour, whose team lost in two games to Palatine earlier this season.
"It was a good win for us. But nothing is over yet."
The first game was a war of attrition with the game tied 14 times. It was tied eight times before Barrington went on a 7-2 run to take a 17-12 lead.
Palatine was able to rally with Thomas Lambke serving as the Pirates forced a tie at 18. Again, the game was even five more times, the final time coming at 23-all before Barrington closed out the game by scoring the last 2 points on a kill by Hartke and a forced error.
"It was a different level of intensity for us," said Hartke, who had 4 kills in Game 1. "We had different focuses and different lineups and we were excited to come out here today."
The second game picked up where the first game left off, with both teams exchanging points. Barrington slowly extended its lead to 12-10 before going on a 6-2 run to lead 18-12.
Again Palatine rallied as the Pirates closed to 20-19. Anand then had 2 kills and a block kill as the Broncos opened up a 23-19 advantage before cruising to the 25-20 victory.
"We felt pretty in control of the match," Ridenour said. "But the score at times did not necessarily indicate that."
Ridenour credits the lineup change to Arnad's success.
"Ved has been playing real well lately," Ridenour said. "We changed our lineup a couple weeks ago and went to a different look. Since that time, Ved has been one of our better players. He has just embraced that role and the opportunity to get a lot of swings out there."
Hartke finished with 6 kills for the match as did Gibson, while Ben Ridgeway had 5 kills.
Palatine was led by Curtis McLennan, who had 8 kills. Nate Jones had 4 kills, Aaron Spaletto 3 and Ben Rinella and Timmy Matejevic each had 2 kills.
It was the unforced errors by Palatine that really frustrated coach Pete Gavin.
"It was a little rough," he said. "We definitely struggled. That was not the cleanest volleyball we have played at all. Not even close, and it was a little ugly. A lot of that you have to give credit to Barrington. They stayed aggressive."