Balanced Buffalo Grove beats Barrington

Buffalo Grove setter Lukas Karch said he likes to get all of his hitters involved in a match. There were certainly no complaints Wednesday.

Four Bison had at least five kills, and three – Jon Ward, Chris Shanahan and Jamie Schnittker – each had six leading to 21 assists for Karch as No. 4 Buffalo Grove (29-5) defeated visiting Barrington 25-21, 29-27 to win the Mid-Suburban League title.

“I try to get everyone involved,” said Karch, one of five seniors starters for Buffalo Grove. “It keeps the offense moving. I have hitters at all spots so it makes my job easy.”

Barrington (26-7) fought off four match points in Game 2 before Ward, a 6-foot-3 senior outside hitter, slammed his sixth kill of the match to give the Bison the win. But it was kills by Shanahan at 25-all and 26-all that kept Barrington within reach.

“It was exciting,” Shanahan said. “We were a little sloppy in the extra points. We need to sideout better in the tournament. We have to be more aggressive. But Barrington is a good team. We’ll probably see them again in the sectional.”

Barrington never led in Game 1 and trailed 12-9 in Game 2 before going on a 9-3 run to take its biggest lead of the match at 18-15. Matt Logue’s kill tied the game at 15-15 and his three consecutive service points temporarily had the Bison on their heels.

But two kills and an ace by Shanahan got the Bison back in the game, setting the stage for the frenetic finish.

“I think we came out mesmerized a little in Game 1,” Barrington coach Rob Ridenour said. “We wanted to play hard, but we were not sure how to. I thought their middles (Michael Starzec and Sam Wacker) hurt us and made us think a little more.”

Six-foot-8 junior middle Tommy Leonard led Barrington with 11 kills and a block, junior setter Taylor Ganzer had 21 assists and three kills and Matt Logue added five kills. Wacker had five kills for Buffalo Grove.

“We had a pretty good game plan,” Karch said. “We knew they would come out fired up. We just had to take care of business and play our game.”

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