Boys volleyball: Hinsdale Central takes 2nd vs. talented field at Warren invite
A who's who of Illinois prep volleyball teams rolled in to Gurnee Saturday for the Warren boys invitational.
The field included four schools - Marist, Glenbrook South, Maine South and New Trier - that have previously won state titles; and three others (Wheaton North, Stevenson and the host Blue Devils) who have been runners-up, just falling short in the championship match.
Not to mention a slew of perennial state contenders, so to say it was a strong gathering might have been an understatement.
That made the performance in the tourney of Hinsdale Central all the more special.
The Red Devils won their first four matches of the meet (two coming Thursday in pool play) to make it all the way to final contest of the day, where they played well but fell to Marist 25-14, 25-19 for the crown.
All in all, per Hinsdale Central coach Tom Gilbert, it was an excellent performance by his squad.
"Marist is darn good," said Gilbert, "arguably the best team in the state, and we just ran out of gas a little bit."
The Red Devils defeated Whitney Young in the quarterfinals and New Trier in the semis of the Gold (championship) division to reach the title tilt.
They were led by setter Harry Hughes, who the coach said had "about 80 assists" on the tourney, and Jakobi Lange.
"Jakobi is headed to USC, and it's well deserved," said Gilbert. "He's our go-to hitter and he's averaging about 12-13 kills a game.
"I was very happy today with the way we played against Whitney Young and New Trier. The first two matches (on Thursday) were a little rough. We're just getting used to our team chemistry."
Local teams Wheaton North, Fremd, Glenbrook South and Stevenson all qualified from pool play for the Gold division, with the Patriots taking fourth place.
Sam Nuudel led the Pats in their 3-game quarterfinal win over Wheaton North with 14 kills, while teammate Onon Bayasakh had 12 digs in their tough 3-game loss to the Trevians in the third-place match.
"We're very happy with the effort and getting a good result in a challenging match against Wheaton North," said Stevenson coach Eric Goolish. "This is only the second time in school history that we've advanced to the semifinals in this tournament."
Glenbrook South defeated Wheaton North in the fifth-place match, while Fremd scored a seventh-place victory over Whitney Young.
"We played lights out against Maine South in pool play to be able to qualify for the Gold," said Vikings coach Tracy Harding. "It was great to see what the guys can do, and a lot of guys stepped up today."
Maine South outlasted Niles North 25-18, 30-28 to win the Silver division, good for ninth overall in the 24-team field.
"We had a much cleaner game one than game two," said Hawks sophomore Leo Trespeces, "but we picked it up at the end and pulled it out.
"I'm happy with how we did, especially considering the high level of teams here, a lot of teams that I like to compete with. I'm totally team-oriented, and how we do as a team is most important to me."
Niles North was at set point in the 2nd game at 25-24, but the Hawks rallied and a final kill from senior right side Jake Birkett, then a Vikings error gave the victory to Maine South.
Hawks coach Garrett Fechner talked about the character-building 30-28 winning set two score against the Vikings, mentioning that "last year, we lost a game 35-33 to Stevenson and that took the wind out of our sails, so a similar type game this year and we got the win."
"We got the job done, and when your back is against the wall, it shows you what type of team you have."