Boys volleyball: Glenbrook North ends Hersey's season

After Hersey's heartbreaking 3-game loss to Glenbrook North in the Maine East boys volleyball regional final, Huskies senior Jacob Tolwinski talked about what his final season meant to him.

"These guys were like my brothers," said Tolwinski of his teammates. "All year, we were there for each other. I'm really going to miss them."

Wednesday night in Park Ridge it was Tolwinski, a libero, who led a set 2 rally to enable Hersey to knot up the match at one game apiece.

But the Huskies couldn't sustain the effort as Glenbrook North won 25-21, 24-26, 25-19.

"This was an amazing season," said Huskies coach Laura Gerber as her team finished 29-8. "I'm really proud of who the boys are, not only as players but as men. It's a great group who worked hard all year long."

After dropping Game 1 Hersey, the Mid-Suburban League champions, fell behind again in Game 2.

But defense led the Huskies back into the set led by Tolwinski, who at one point dove into the stands for an out-of-this-world dig that led to a Hersey point that tied Game 2 at 12-12.

Hersey actually faced match point thereafter at 23-24, but rallied to score 3 straight points - paced by a big block from Carter Zagorski - to tie things up.

"Our guys kind of gathered themselves in game two," said Gerber. "They started to enjoy playing and they started to battle, one point at a time."

Hersey fell behind in Game 3 by 6 points midway through and could only close to 19-22 on two-straight Zagorski kills.

Then the Spartans regained control and scored the next 3 points to win.

"We got into a good rhythm (in the third set)," said Glenbrook North Chris Cooper. "We didn't let Hersey have any big runs of points. We had stretched the lead early, and even though they kept battling back we were able to maintain it."

Tolwinski finished the match with 9 digs; Tim Nugent led the Hersey attack with 9 kills, while Drew Zagorski had 8 and Brent Gurvis hit 7.

Gurvis, a senior, said that despite the loss, it was still a successful campaign for the Huskies.

"My main goal this year was to win the MSL championship, and we did that," said Gurvis. "We brought it back to Hersey."