Boys volleyball: Lincoln-Way West edges Bolingbrook for 2024 Tiger Invite championship

The Tiger Invite championship game at Joliet West went to three sets on Saturday afternoon. Fittingly for a competition between two outstanding boys volleyball teams, each set seemed to be a completely different kind of game.

But like they said in “Highlander,” however, there can be only one.

In the end, that one was Lincoln-Way West as they defeated Bolingbrook in a three-set thriller, 25-20, 17-25, 25-16 to win the Gold Bracket.

LWW (7-0) found itself in a true back-and-forth affair to start as neither team could get much separation. They alternated between ties for a stretch with no one leading by more than two until the Warriors went up 18-15. Even then, the Raiders got back within one, 19-18, before LWW closed things out on a 6-2 run to take the first set.

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Bolingbrook’s Charlie Bialek powers a shot between the defense of Lincoln-Way West in the 2024 Tiger Invite championship at Joliet West on Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Gary Middendorf)

The momentum didn’t carry over into the second set for the Warriors. While it was close to start with Bolingbrook up just 5-7, the Raiders went on a 6-1 run to extend the lead to 6-13. The Warriors cut the deficit to just 11-14, but a 5-1 run by BHS put things out of reach as the Raiders forced a decisive third set.

Set three was back and forth to start as well. A 2-0 start for LWW quickly turned into a 3-6 lead for Bolingbrook. In the blink of an eye, the Warriors flipped the script with a 6-1 run to go up three. With 13-10 edge the Warriors used another run to go up 17-11. They did enough from there to close things out on top.

“Overall I’m extremely happy with how the tournament ran,” Warriors head coach Jodi Frigo said. “We really got to play a couple of good challenging games and see some good volleyball.”

Connor Jaral led the way for the Warriors with 10 kills while Andrew Flores had 14 digs. Noah Konopack chipped in 26 assists.

“It feels great,” Lincoln-Way West’s Colin Dargan said after putting up six kills and an ace. “I can’t wait to celebrate this with my team. I think that last game was the cherry on top. That game was so intense.”

For Bolingbrook (6-1) the loss may have been disappointing, but there’s still positives to take away. It was the Raiders’ first loss of the season and came against another undefeated squad. They reached that point despite suffering some injuries to start the weekend. They also got solid championship game performances from Tyler Vasquez (14 digs), Tristan Benbow (10 kills) and Connor Dmochowski (24 assists, 13 digs).

“We started the weekend in a place you don’t want to with two of our starters going down with injuries,” Bolingbrook coach Molly DeSerf said. “I think the guys did a really incredible job all weekend of being really resilient, but also of battling. They picked up where they needed to and just found a way...I think we just need to find some consistency is the biggest thing.”

Bolingbrook hosts Romeoville on Monday while Lincoln-Way West will visit Marist. The Warriors are feeling confident with where they’re at right now.

“I think our chemistry is really, really good and we’re proving that every day,” Lincoln Way West’s Drew Kregul said. “I think the setting and setter connections have been getting better every day. I think our big goal right now is to go to state.”

In other tournament action, Joliet West won the Silver Division with a victory over Wheaton North.