Broncos' Volleyball Lose Conference Championship

Buffalo Grove’s head coach Matt Aiello knew that the MSL Conference Championship was going to come down to which team’s middle-blockers were able to have the biggest impact.

“(Barrington) has a heck of a blocker in (Tommy) Leonard, and (TJ) Shanahan did a nice job in the middle as well,” Aiello said following the Bison straight set victory (25-21, 29-27) over the Broncos. “But I have the two best middles in the area, so we were able to establish that early.”

Buffalo Grove’s pair of 6’8 middles, Michael Starzec and Sam Wacker, helped set the tone for the Bison in the first match on the way to their 25-21 victory.  Starzec led with 7 blocks on the night while Wacker contributed 4 blocks.

“I thought their middles had a great night,” Barrington’s coach Rob Ridenour said of Starzec and Wacker.  “In game one they were tremendous and the difference.”

Barrington (26-7)attempted to battle back during the first match behind MSL West player of the year, senior Matt Logue (4 blocks), but the Broncos were unable to settle into their style of volleyball.  

“During game one it took a bit for our guys to get adjusted to playing in a big match like this,” Ridenour said.  “(Buffalo Grove) has the experience factor and that mattered in game one.”

“This match helped for our kids that have never played in this environment,” Ridenour went on to say.  “I thought we learned a lot about ourselves in game one; and came out during game two and played much better.”

The Broncos found themselves down early in match two, but neither team was able to really pull away with 10 All Conference players in the showdown.  Neither team could push a lead to more than three points in this conference championship battle. 

Barrington, forced to play catch-up early in match two, was able to take their first lead at 14-13 and built on their surging momentum behind All Conference standouts Leonard (9 kills and 8 digs) and Shanahan (4 kills).

The two teams would essentially swap points for the remainder of the match as the intensity grew with each change in the scoreboard.  After Buffalo Grove (29-5) took a lead at 26-25, they looked poised to end the match, but Barrington’s junior Taylor Ganzer (4 blocks) had a powerful spike that tied the match once more.  The two teams recorded 10-tie’s/lead changes during the second match.

“Taylor had a huge play on the outside in a one-on-one,” Coach Ridenour said of his All-Conference setter.  “We never gave up and that play was the epitome of our match; (Ganzer) kind of struggled in that match-up during the night but in the crunch time he went and got him.”

Unfortunately for Barrington they would lose the second match and the championship moments later, 29-27, behind strong finishes from Buffalo Grove’s senior Chris Shanahan, MSL East player of the year, (10 kills) and All Conference senior Camryn Castle who chipped in 13 digs.  

“We are battled test and play the schedule we play to be prepared for matches like this,” Aiello said of the second match battle between the two teams.  “I have a real good feeling we may be seeing these guys again soon,”

Barrington, the number two seed in the Warren Sectional (Buffalo Grove was the number one seed), will start the Mundelein Regional on Tuesday, May 24 at 6:30 p.m. and will play the winner of Lake Zurich and Waukegan High School on the play-in game.