Vernon Hills volleyball coach Chris Curry mentioned it. How he told his Cougars that his team would facing the "best team ever had."
Heck, the Bison have been to state before. In fact, head coach Matt Aiello played on one of those teams that made it to state.
But Curry had a point. This Bison team (32-6) had it all.
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Chris Shanahan: The southpaw slugger was the hardest hitter around. He was named the MSL West player of the year.
Lukas Karch: If Shanahan did not get the award, it was Karch's. Certainly the best setter in the MSL and maybe the state.
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Sam Wacker: The basketball player proved his worth with strong play at the net.
Jamie Schnittker: Made the difficult transition from middle to outside and succeeded.
Michael Starzec: Improved radically in the middle and by the end of the season was a blocking force.
Camryn Castle: Handled his job as the libero with ease and did his job passing the ball.
Jon Ward: Maybe the surprise player of the year. Became a potent and smart hitter outside.
Matt Bloom: Saw some action in big matches and gave the team serving help.
In addition to bringing back middles Starzec and Wacker, the Bison should get help from Mike Maley, Jose Aguirre, Scott Swedberg and Bloom. BG also graduated John Shamo and Matt Kresnicka.
Recap: It was a rematch of a spectacular sectional final of last year. A season ago, both Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills put on a great display before the Bison emerged as sectional champs.
Last week's matchup in Gurnee was not as close. All three games were one-sided.
Vernon Hills (34-4) closed BG's season with a 25-18, 18-25, 25-18 victory in the Warren Sectional.
Bison coach Aiello was not pleased that night. He picked up a yellow card in the process.
"I don't complain about refs, but that was unfair to my team,'' he said. "But we were also a little slow. They were trapping our hitters and our passes were off. Vernon Hills won the day."
Shanahan closed his career with 14 kills. Wacker added nine kills. Karch notched 23 assists. Starzec provided four blocks. Castle had 13 digs and Karch added nine digs.
"I respect that they beat us,'' Aiello said. "But I love these guys like brothers."
BG did win the Deerfield Regional last week. The Bison hammered Fremd 25-13, 25-13 and edged Deerfield in the final, 25-22, 25-19.
