Palatine defeats Prospect for regional championship

The Pirates stage a late comeback in game one for a 25-23 win, then take game two 25-18.

Published By John Juettner on 5/26/2010

The Pirates display their regional championship plaque after defeating Prospect.
Story and Photos By: John Juettner
      It’s tough to stage a late comeback in a volleyball game. With rally scoring, any mistake means a point for the opposition.
      When trailing 22-18, as Palatine was to Prospect in the first game of the teams’ regional final match at Highland Park on Wednesday, it meant mistakes couldn’t be made.
      The Pirates did just that, scoring seven of the next eight points for a 25-23 game one victory. Palatine then won game two 25-18 to capture the regional championship and move on to the sectional semifinals, which will be played at Palatine.
      “That was huge,” Palatine coach Frank Stark said. “We talked about coming out and playing with energy, and we actually started the game out with a 6-1 lead. But then we started making a lot of errors. To see the kids step up, not let it bother them at all, and play for every point was really exciting.”
      Palatine senior Nat Pearson credited the Pirates’ defensive effort as the reason behind the late comeback.
      “We got really scrappy at the end,” Pearson said. “We made a couple good block kills, and we started putting the ball away again. Then everything started clicking again.”
      Palatine had to come back from a four-point deficit in the second game as well, but it was at the beginning of the game instead of the end with the Knights jumping out to a 5-1 lead.
      “We just needed to slow down a little bit,” Palatine junior Justin Ginter said. “We were playing a little fast.”
      Prospect coach Mike Riedy said two things happened to his team against the Pirates.
      “We got beat, and we beat ourselves,” Riedy said. “Part of it had to do with Palatine playing some great defense, especially after the second half of game one all the way through game two. We couldn’t get a ball to hit the floor. And then we just folded under pressure in a number of situations.”
      While Palatine’s win was exciting, the Pirates know they have to play better if they want to continue to advance in the postseason.
      “We have lots of room to improve,” Pearson said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I think we’ll be ready by Friday.”
      The Pirates will take on Buffalo Grove at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Palatine.
      “It’s a great feeling,” Ginter said of getting to play a sectional game on home court. “It’s definitely what we wanted to do. It was one of our goals for the year.”

Prospect senior Casey Gallagher gets ready to serve in game one of the Knights’ match with Palatine on Wednesday.