THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
Hot Cougars Earn Hersey Invite Crown
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Sports
Just how good is this Conant boys volleyball team?
The area got a pretty good answer to that question last Saturday when the Cougars (17-6, 4-2 in the Mid Suburban-West), won the Hersey invitational with four strong performances.
We'll all find out a lot more about this 2008 Cougar team after its showdown this week with Fremd in the MSL-West.
With a host of players playing vital roles and making important contributions, the Cougars defeated Schaumburg, Prospect, and South Elgin in two games, St. Viator in three, and lost only to the host Huskies to finish 4-1. They were declared the invite's champion by virtue of having the best overall game win-loss percentage. Hersey and Prospect also finished the day with 4 -1 records.
The Cougars were led by almost everyone, as has been the case repeatedly in this successful season. Setters Ryan Schraub (70 assists, 19 kills), and Drew Fisher (40 assists, 18 kills, 3 aces), were strong. The front line of Ken Ropiak (32 kills, 8 blocks), Dan Aloisio (22 kills, 23 digs), Peter Lauterbach (27 kills, 27 digs), and Johnny Pontarelli (15 kills, 6 blocks) were solid. Libero David Kim was near perfect on serve receive (26 of 28 chances) and had 27 digs.
Earlier last week, the Cougars improved to 4-2 in their conference with a 21-25, 25-13, 25-13 win over rival Schaumburg, behind 8 kills by Fisher and 5 by Aloisio, and 18 assists combined by Schraub and Fisher.
Over at Maine South, the Hawks improved to 11-6, and 4-0 in the Central Suburban-South, with a 25-19, 27 -25 win over Waukegan. John Butch had 11 kills and an ace, and Eric Butch contributed 12 assists.
Maine West also had a good week, defeating Niles North, 25-19, 26-24, in the CSL-North.
Brendan Joyce had 4 kills and an ace for the Warriors, Joyce and Jon Jain had 15 assists between them, and Jim Voy and Siby Mathew had 4 and 3 solo blocks, respectively.
"It was a great team effort," said coach Maureen Moeller as the Warriors improved to 5-11 overall and won their first match in the conference.
Last week in head-to-head MSL matches, Buffalo Grove, emerging as the best in the East Division, defeated Prospect in three games; Elk Grove defeated Wheeling in three games; Hersey defeatedRolling Meadows in two very close games; and St. Viator defeated Marian Catholic in two games in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
In limited action this week, Buffalo Grove defeated Wheeling in the MSL-East, and Elk Grove improved to 17-2 in its outstanding season with a two-game victory over Mundelein.