THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008
Conant, EG, West Struggling In Conference
Conant, Elk Grove, and Maine West have widely varying records this spring in boys volleyball, but they do have one thing in common:
They are having trouble winning in their conferences.
First, Conant. Two days after winning the Hersey invite last weekend, the 17-7 Cougars dropped a two-game match to Fremd in the MSL-West, dropping Conant to 4-3 in the conference.
The scores were 26-24 and 25-21. Ken Ropiak had 9 kills and Johnny Pontarelli added 5, while Ryan Schraub and Drew Fisher had 25 assists between them, but it wasn't enough to overcome a spirited effort by the Vikings, who lead the West Division by one game.
David Kim had 13 digs and Pete Lauterbach added 17 for the Cougars.
Elk Grove suffered a similar fate at the hands of Hersey in the East division. The Huskies edged the Grens, 26-24, 25-22, dropping the Grens to 17-3 overall but 4-3 in the division.
Bryan Skwirut had a match-best 13 kills and Jon Condon contributed 20 assists for EG, but it wasn't enough as Jack Welter served 4 aces for Hersey and Griffin Dwyer put down 7 kills. Hersey is 9-9 overall and 3-4 in the East.
Maine West fell to 1-4 in the Central Suburban-North, and 6 -16 overall, with a 25-18, 25-20 loss to Deerfield. Jim Voy led the Warrior attack with 6 kills and Frank Pulvino added 4. Brendan Joyce added 12 assists Joyce was 24 of 26 on setting attempts.
An exception to all this is Maine East, which improved to 14-6, and 3-2 in the CSL-North, with a 25-21, 23-25, 25-22 win over Highland Park. Peter Kim had a whopping 36 assists, and Peter Prokopowicz provided 9 kills and 6 digs.
In other MSL matches, Rolling Meadows improved to 9-8 and 3-5 in the East with a 25-16, 25-23 win over Prospect. Weston Genovese led Meadows with 9 kills ands Matt Vinezeano added 6.
Wheeling got 4 kills from Paul Desmond but fell, 25-21, 25-14, to East leader Buffalo Grove.
In the East Suburban Catholic Conference, Benet defeated St. Viator, 25-17, 22-25, 25-17, despite 9 kills by Mike Czopek and 19 assists by John Lopez for the Lions.