Maine South ousts Buffalo Grove in IHSA boys’ volleyball quarterfinals

The Bison were just a bit off in the match's second game.

From left, Alex Kob, Nick Baronti, Sam Wacker, and Chris Shanahan prepare to play defense for Buffalo Grove. Photo By: Charlie Burroughs Story By: John Juettner       Things were just a little off for Buffalo Grove in its second game against Maine South in Friday’s IHSA boys’ volleyball state quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates High School.       The Bison had just battled the Hawks to a 25-20 game one loss. But in the second game Buffalo Grove just didn’t look like the team it had been all season long, losing 25-15, and ending its run for a third consecutive state trophy.       “At this stage of the season, you can’t really explain why it happens like that,” Buffalo Grove coach…

Baronti leads BG boys volleyball team past Vernon Hills

Bison advance to state tournament with three-game victory.

Buffalo Grove displays its sectional championship trophy. Story and Photos By: Alex Mayster       Buffalo Grove’s Nick Baronti may not have been the only Bison boys volleyball player standing tall after the Bison’s 25-22, 23-25, 35-33 sectional championship victory over Vernon Hills on Tuesday, but the 6-foot-9 senior certainly stood the tallest.       Baronti’s 22 kills and seven assists helped propel Buffalo Grove through an intense Game 3 to send the Bison (30-5) to this weekend’s state tournament as champions of the Palatine sectional.       “He’s just an amazing volleyball player,” Buffalo Grove coach Matt Aiello said. “Everyone looks at him and thinks he’s just big and tall. He showed tonight that he’s willing to do anything it takes…

Buffalo Grove proves to be too much for Palatine

The Bison utilized their depth and skill to defeat the Pirates in the sectional semifinals.

Lukas Karch (5) and Buffalo Grove are moving on to the sectional finals. Story and Photos By: John Juettner       Buffalo Grove’s boys’ volleyball team has a lot of talent and a lot of depth. The Bison are tall, athletic, skilled and quite dangerous when they are playing well.       And Friday night against Palatine in the Class 4A boys’ volleyball sectional semifinal on the Pirates’ home court, Buffalo Grove was playing about as good as a team can en route to a 25-19, 25-14 victory.       “If we’re passing the ball, we’re unbeatable. Period,” Buffalo Grove coach Matt Aiello said. “That sounds like an arrogant comment. But when we’re passing the ball, no one can stop our offense.…

Many MSL participants qualify for state at the Palatine sectional

Palatine’s Alec Bollman wanted to make sure he had company at next week’s IHSA 3A state track finals in Charleston. So he looked back to see where teammate Tim Johnson was at in the final meters of the 1,600 run. “I knew I had it won, so I looked back in the final 50 meters,” Bollman said. “I gave Tim a little wave and he picked it up.” Bollman was easily able to win the event while Johnson held off Libertyville’s Mitch Neubaur for second place. Bollman’s first place finish and Johnson’s second place finish helped power the Pirates to 56 points and fourth place in the sectional. Bollman also anchored the Palatine’s 4 x 800 relay team. Bollman, along with Tim Meincke, Ryan McGough…

Buffalo Grove tops Fremd for MSL championship

The Bison prove to be too much for the Vikings in boys' volleyball

Buffalo Grove celebrates its Mid-Suburban League boys volleyball championship. Story and Photo By: John Juettner       Fremd battled in Wednesday night’s boys’ volleyball Mid-Suburban League championship match against visiting Buffalo Grove, but the Bison proved to be too much.       There were moments where the Vikings looked like they were about to seize control of the match, but each time Buffalo Grove came up with a big series of plays en route to becoming MSL champs with a 27-25, 25-22 win.       “It’s great,” Buffalo Grove senior Nick Baronti said. “You look forward to the postseason, but it’s a great win for us. It was one of our team goals as we started the season, to win conference.”  …

Vikings move on to regional finals with 3-0 win over BG

Story by: Charlie Burroughs            A win is a win, but the Fremd girls’ soccer coach Steve Keller is looking for more urgency.       “I think we got to play better,” Keller said after the 3-0 victory in the Regional Semi-finals over Buffalo Grove Tuesday evening. “Not that we played terrible, but we weren’t on top of our game and alert in the first half.”       In the first half the Bison fought for a little over 20 minutes without allowing a goal from the Viking offense. It was also Bison freshman midfielder Carly Brown who almost drew first blood with a shot at the goal deep inside the box at the 23 minute mark. Viking senior…

A windy day supports Bison in win

Wind plays havoc with Hoffman outfielders in 12-7 BG win

Jeremy Salzman celebrates his home run with Andrew Van Wazer (30) Photos and Story By: Charlie Burroughs       The Buffalo Grove baseball team knows preparation breeds success. Even if that means simulating in practice the left-to-right wind that often spreads over their home field.       “We’re getting kinda used to the wind howling across like this,” Bison Coach Jeff Grybash said. “Our hitters are disciplined enough to let it travel and hit it to the right center gap.”       It was two Hoffman Estate right field “errors” that opened up a 10 run second and an eventual 12-7 victory for the Bison Wednesday evening.       The inning began with a solo home run by Bison senior pitcher…

Four in a row for Fremd

The Vikings are MSL champs in badminton again

Anita Liu and Fremd are the MSL champions in badminton. Story and Photos By: John Juettner       It’s been quite a run for Fremd in badminton, and the Vikings success continued Saturday at Elk Grove.       For the fourth consecutive year, Fremd is the Mid-Suburban League champion in the sport. The Vikings scored 68 points for the meet, beating out Buffalo Grove (63), Hersey (42), Palatine (36), and Prospect (35.5).       The Vikings trailed Buffalo Grove by two points heading into Saturday’s action. The doubles portion of the meet was completed on Friday, and the Bison took three of the five doubles championships. For an early 23-21 meet lead       “We were down, but we had a…

Brottman pitches Fremd to 3-1 win over BG

The senior pitches a complete game and strikes out five

Story and Photo By: John Juettner     Two great pitching performances were turned in during Mid-Suburban League play between Fremd and Buffalo Grove on Monday.   There were some fabulous defensive plays on each side as well, but host Fremd was able to capitalize on two errors made by the Bison in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to a 3-1 victory.   “It was kind of ironic that the last two runs of the game came on mistakes because I thought defensively they played really well,” Fremd coach Jim Weaver said.   Fremd (7-0) pitcher Lena Brottman came through in some key spots at the end of the game to keep Buffalo Grove from coming back.   In the top of…