Starzec, Bison Rout Prospect in Volleyball

He stands 6-foot-8 and naturally basketball comes up. But Michael Starzec gave that sport a try as a sophomore. And then he had a revelation. Starzec was going all volleyball all the time. And that's a good thing for the volleyball team.

Not only do the Bison (13-3) have a potent outside attack with Chris Shanahan, Jamie Schnittker and Jon Ward, but also a strong middle attack with those juniors Sam Wacker and Starzec.

On Tuesday night in Buffalo Grove, Starzec and company didn't break a sweat in putting away visiting Prospect. Starzec had four kills and a team-high four blocks in the 25-11, 25-11 romp.

"My job is to block,'' Starzec said. "We have some excellent hitters. We played pretty well tonight but we still let some balls drop."

Bison coach Matt Aiello is glad to have this tall player blocking for his team.

"He's so coachable,'' Aiello said. "He really wants to be as good as he can. His ceiling is really high. He's out there talking to his teammates. He just wants to get better."

The Bison were never really challenged in either set. Setter Lukas Karch (16 assists) began the serving effort on the night. With kills from Starzec and Ward, it was quickly 8-2.

"We are just starting to put in our full array of offense'' Aiello said. "We can still get a kill when we want to. But tomorrow, we will work on our blocking for two-and-half hours."

On a Karch dump shot, the first set lead expanded to 17-8.

Set two was a little closer. Prospect was within 15-9 before Karch went back to serving. A kill and block from Shanahan (8 kills, 2 blocks), a block kill from Starzec and another Ward kill made it 22-11. A Wacker kill ended the match in less than an hour.

Ward helped the Bison attack with six kills. Wacker and Schnittker both checked in with four kills each.

Buffalo Grove hits the road for five straight matches before coming home again on April 28. Next up for this club is Thursday night in Wheeling.