Boys volleyball: Palatine rallies from set down to defeat Lake Zurich
Losing the first set to visiting Lake Zurich was a real wake-up call for the Palatine boys volleyball team Monday night.
A tap-shot by Ethan Pratt carried the Bears to a convincing 25-14 victory over the Pirates in set one before Lake Zurich lost pretty much all of its momentum in the final two sets.
Palatine (8-9) would roll to a 25-15 triumph in the second set as a kill by Chris Parlier forced a third and deciding set.
And a very strong 8-2 start in the third set helped carry the Pirates to an easy 25-16 victory for the match as the young Bears team record fell to 2-14 on the season.
"Set one was pretty rough all around. Lake Zurich did a good job feeding off of our errors, and they did a nice job," said Palatine assistant coach Dan Gavin. "In set two and three we flipped the switch. We just had a better response to adversity, and we forced them into a lot of situations where they were uncomfortable."
A spike by Palatine senior Noah Casillas gave the Pirates a 20-14 advantage in the second set before 4 service points by Palatine junior Derek Nagel gave the hosts a commanding 24-14 lead. A kill by Nagel capped the 5-point run.
"We started with a lot of intensity. They came out strong, but then we lost the momentum in sets two and three," said Lake Zurich coach Brett Stuart, whose team held an early 4-2 lead in the second set. "Palatine has a lot of size and a lot of attackers, and we struggled to block No. 11 (Palatine senior Bobby Widlowski)."
After taking the 8-2 lead in the final set, 2 aces by Parlier boosted the lead to 13-8 before 3 service points by senior teammate Jackson Wheat extended the lead to 19-10.
Three service points by Lake Zurich senior Matt Conway kept the Bears' hopes alive as they were able to cut the lead to 22-16. But after a sideout for Palatine, 2 service points by Nagel closed out the match.
"I think we were just a little nervous for staff appreciation night because we didn't want to lose because we were playing for something bigger than ourselves," said Widlowski. "We played for each other, we played smart, and we played our type of volleyball. The offense stems from us starting to pass better. We didn't force anything, and we just put the ball in play."
Lake Zurich was led on the attack by sophomore Ethan Blakeslee with 7 kills and Pratt with 6 kills while sophomore teammate Anthony Kim led the Bears with 20 assists. Conway and Luke Tauras had 2 blocks apiece for Lake Zurich.
"It wasn't perfect, it wasn't always pretty, but we responded more positively," added Gavin. "We limited their runs, and we kept a lot of pressure on their side of the net."
In the first set, the Bears jumped out to a comfortable 16-9 lead on an ace by sophomore Quinn Diblik before a kill by Blakeslee really put the Pirates behind the eight ball trailing 22-12.
Lake Zurich was coming off of the 12-team Lake County tournament last week at Grant and Lakes where the Bears went head-to-head with many of the top teams in their area.