Boys volleyball: It's Buffalo Grove over Wheeling, in a close one

There may not be a more closely contested boys volleyball match this season than the one Tuesday night at Wheeling.

The Wildcats and visiting Buffalo Grove slugged and defended their way through 2 games that saw the score tied 32 times, and the lead changing hands 16 times.

In the latter stages of both sets, however, it was the Bison rising to the occasion.

Boosted by some great defensive play from Michael Lohse, Dan Gran and Brian Franz, BG won 25-21, 29-27 in the Mid-Suburban East.

"It was crazy tonight - the energy was intense," said Lohse, a senior defensive specialist. "Up and down the whole game."

"I thought we had to play tight and play like we've been practicing all year," added the senior.

Senior middle Clark Haikal was 9-for-9 hitting with 5 kills and 2 blocks for the Bison, while junior Jared Moser had 7 kills and 7 digs for Wheeling.

"We played better than we did last time against BG (another Bison win)," said Moser, "but not up to our full potential. They played great tonight, we played great - but in the end we made too many errors."

Buffalo Grove (11-13, 5-1) scored 5 consecutive points down the stretch to win the first set, led by an ace from Franz, a senior outside hitter, and a big kill by junior Ethan Soifer.

The second set went back and forth with neither team holding more than a 2-point lead, and the teams traded punches until the scored stood tied at 27-27.

Then Bison junior middle hitter Teddy Patlak came up with 2 huge block kills at the net to give the Bison the victory.

"I honestly wanted to put those balls down, and shut down their hitters," said Patlak. "I wanted to finish this game. I knew they were going to go to their outside (Moser) on the last point - he's their best hitter - so I guess you could say I wasn't really thinking anything at that stage except play the game, block the ball, and get the win."

Jared Urueta was 57-of-58 setting with 18 assists for the Wildcats (11-11, 3-3), while teammate libero Joseph Hernandez was outstanding while producing 15 digs.

Franz finished with 18 digs and 7 kills for the Bison; Tommy Gross produced 12 assists while Kyle Orton had 10; and Soifer earned a match-high 9 kills.

"Wheeling was outstanding," said BG coach Tim Kosiek, "especially defensively. "There were so many times I thought we put the ball down in a great spot and the ball came back up in the air. It was truly a battle and I thought it might go three games because it was so competitive."

"Neither team was giving up any runs tonight," added Kosiek. "It was back and forth. To me it's a testament to great volleyball. Jason (Wheeling coach Kopkowski) has done a lot with that program - their hitters are tremendous and their defense was right on point.

"But I credit my guys. Our serve receive was really good, we passed the ball well, we were running and establishing offense. It was exciting for us because even when we got down, nobody hung their heads. They kept their composure and controlled the match."

Hersey d. Elk Grove: The Huskies kept their MSL East record perfect by winning 25-23, 25-15 against the Grens.

A balanced attack for the Huskies included 6 kills from Jake Mailloux and 5 apiece from Camran Saeed, Joe Nugent and Andrew Leno. Jakub Migus went 39-for-40 setting for 22 assists, while Christian Hong had a team-best 11 digs and Nugent came up with 4 blocks.

Hersey, which finished as runner-up over the weekend at Palatine, improved to 16-3 overall and is 6-0 in the MSL East.

Fremd d. Conant: The Vikings got a 46-for-47 setting effort from senior Jacob Peterson, which was good for 22 assists as Fremd defeated the Cougars 25-14, 25-15 to improve to 10-6 overall and 3-3 in the MSL West.

Aaron Peterson led the way with 8 kills for Fremd, and Rocco Stella had 7. Michael Arango had a team-best 8 digs, and Tim Wink was 9-for-9 serving with an ace.

Prospect d. Rolling Meadows: The visiting Knights came away with a 25-21, 26-17 decision in the MSL East.

Arthur Barczak had a team-best 9 kills for Rolling Meadows. Teammate Billy Psarros provided 18 setting assists and Charlie Behrens led the way with 14 digs.

Palatine d. Hoffman Estates: Curtis McLennan's 10-kill effort helped the Pirates prevail 25-18, 25-18 in MSL West play.

Johnny O'Shea contributed 6 kills and a team-best 5 blocks along with 2 service aces, and Ben Rinella produced 20 setting assists.

Top producers for Hoffman Estates included James Swan (4 kills) and Chris Fermaintt (6 digs).