Boys volleyball: Conant rallies past Fremd for 3rd straight regional title

Conant took a page from the 1983 White Sox Thursday in Hoffman Estates.

In the regional title game, Conant was “Winning Ugly” as the Cougars rallied numerous times for a 17-25, 25-20, 26-24 win over Fremd.

It was the third consecutive regional title for the Cougars under head coach Drewann Pancratz. But none was more difficult for Conant (33-2), the Mid-Suburban League champions who beat Fremd for the third time this season. In their first two matches, Conant won in straight sets.

“It was that never give up, never quit, have each other’s back mentality,” Pancratz said. “it wasn’t pretty, but I am proud of them for sticking together. You know what they say. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row. And it’s true.”

Conant, which is seeded second in the Lake Park sectional, watched as Fremd (23-12) scored the first five points on their way to a 12-1 lead in the opening set. Led by Ethan Garst (11 kills), Jack Cioini (5 kills) and Eric Brockman (5 kills), the Vikings cruised to a 25-17 win.

Conant regrouped in the second set.

With Nick Gutka, who had 8 kills in the set, and Michael Recko, who had four kills, dominating at the net, Conant began their comeback. The Cougars pulled away from a 15-15 tie to win 25-20.

Fremd got off to a terrific start in the third set. The Vikings jumped out to a 6-1 lead and led 20-14.

They still led 22-18 on a kill by Garst when Conant rallied. With Gutka and Recko each tallying a pair of kills, the Cougars pulled even at 22-22.

Fremd responded with kills from Garst and Cioni and led 24-22 with match point. But a kill a by Recko gave the Conant the point and the serve.

Gutka came into serve. The 6-foot-8 senior, who had a trio of net serves earlier in the match, had the pressure on to deliver playable serves.

“The pressure was immense,” said Gutka, who would finish the match with 18 kills. “It is not an everyday thing that I am up there. It was crucial to make a serve. I took a deep breath and gave it a nice lob.”

He did just that and gave his teammates an opportunity to play. Conant then followed with three consecutive points, including a kill by Recko to win the final point, 26-24.

“We came in a little rough,” said Recko, who finished with a 16 kills. “We came together in the second game and built some momentum. We knew the game wasn’t over. It still is 25 points.”

Alex Urbanczyk and Bryce Grogan each had three kills for the Cougars.

“We were down one of our starting middles,” Fremd coach Tracy Harding said, “and played great. They played their hearts out. We had some untimely errors. Conant just kept hitting and hitting hard.”

The win earned Conant a rematch with third-seeded Hersey in the sectional semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lake Park in Roselle.

At Evanston: Hersey (31-6) beat the host Wildkits (24-13) to win their third consecutive regional title. The Huskies were able to blow past Evanston 25-20, 25-14 to earn a rematch with Conant on Saturday.

Justin Arrowood had 8 kills and four blocks, Oscar Boduch had six blocks and a kill, while Nick Delucia had 16 assists.

At Schaumburg: Lake Park (29-13), which was seeded fourth, topped fifth-seeded Maine South (17-16) to avenge an earlier season straight set loss. The Lancers needed three sets beating the Hawks 25-21, 15-25, 25-23.

At St. Patrick: Lake Park sectional top seed York (33-4)) was too much for 8th-seeded Maine West. The Dukes swept the Warriors 25-9, 25-20 to advance to the sectionals at Lake Park. Maine West finished the season at 21-17.

At New Trier: The host Trevians bounced back from a loss to Stevenson just three weeks ago for a 25-19, 25-17 sweep. Stevenson (27-10) was led by Tony Hwang (7 kills) and Thomas Edst (6 kills) while Logan Kim and Ryan Dong each had 9 assists.

At Deerfield: Barrington (23-13) won its 11th consecutive regional title by beating Vernon Hills, 25-20, 25-22.

The teams had split their two previous matches. But behind Cole Hartke (8 kills, 2 ace, 2 digs, 2 blocks), Adrian Wu (9 assists, 4 digs), Carson Skinner (8 assists), Gavin Rohlwing (3 kills, 1 dig, 1 assist), John Sun (1 kill), Aidan Gilmore (2 digs), Matt Louis (3 kills, 3 digs), Sam Grozdic (3 kills, 2 blocks), Peter Wawrzyniak (1 dig, 1 assist, 2 aces) and Oliver Halvey (2 kills, 1 block), Barrington was able to win in straight sets.

Vernon Hills (29-9) was led Josh Cahill, who had five kills and three digs. Julian Rodriguez had three kills, and Brian Kim had 14 assists and three digs,