Elk Grove rallies past Bartlett

Elk Grove boys volleyball coach Dan Windholz was grinning like a Cheshire cat when junior Michael Kawa’s two scorching high serves in the middle of Wednesday’s second set of the Conant Regional final were touched by Bartlett, resulting in aces.
It was all part of a turnaround from down six points to tying up the game and taking the lead.
The pivotal swing gave the Grenadiers a 25-18, 25-20 victory and a spot in Friday’s Schaumburg Sectional against either Lake Park or Schaumburg.
“We may not get a lot of aces, but it’s pushing the ball back and not allowing them to run their offense as well,” Windholz said. “We don’t have a lot of the ace stats, but our serving definitely improved and made us a better team.”
Kawa’s game-high 10 kills combined with outside hitter Aaron Kraus’s huge left-handed spikes to bring the Grens (21-12) back from the precipice of a third game, but not without a little coaching during a timeout after the Hawks’ run to a 16-10 lead.
“They actually believed me when I said ‘We’re not done. We can still come back in this game, but it’s going to have to be one point at a time,’” Windholz said. “We weren’t going to get it back all at once. We had to wait, not make any errors and take advantage of their errors and fortunately they did what I asked.”
Kraus’s two emphatic kills gave Elk Grove a 21-19 lead and the junior finished off the win with a spike that knocked the Hawks’ Bryan Sanchez to the ground.
“We weren’t going to let it end here,” Kraus said. “We’re going to try to keep it going Friday, too.”
Bartlett (21-15) had no answer for the pair, especially in the first game, which was won quite easily by the Grens with constant aggression at the net, while maintaining a four point edge most of the way and expanding the lead late.
The Hawks regrouped and built a lead in Game 2, thanks to the play of juniors Russell Martin and David Upp.
Martin finished with six kills and Upp had five, but a couple unforced errors began eroding the lead and soon it was gone entirely.
“I don’t know what happened,” Hawks coach Dave Barker said. “It was a great season, but they deserved more than what happened tonight.”
Elk Grove libero Matt McKenna recorded 13 digs, while Kraus tallied six kills and setter Jeff Miceli had 22 assists and two aces, but it’s enjoy and move on quickly for the Grens.
“Bartlett’s a great team. We knew we had our work cut out for us,” Windholz said. “Friday, we have to do it again, but this was special.”

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