From fans to opposing defenses, it’s hard to take your eyes off Sandburg’s Jake Hanes when he’s roaming the court. Few high school players in the country put that kind of heat on their attack.
“Teams try to target me blocking-wise,” said Hanes, a senior who was named a first team All-American right-side hitter by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. “But we’ve got other guys that can take over and get kills.”
Marist did its best to slow the 6-foot-11 Hanes in Tuesday night’s St. Laurence Sectional championship match, but the RedHawks couldn’t match the diversity of Sandburg’s lineup.
Starting setter Grant Burden spread the wealth and Hanes, an Ohio State recruit, led with eight kills playing outside hitter as Sandburg cruised to a 25-12, 25-20 victory for their second straight trip to the state quarterfinals.
The Eagles (36-3) will face Lyons at 5 p.m. Friday in Hoffman Estates with an eye on a return to the state semifinals.
“Jake really helps us out because when we’re out of system, I can throw it up to him and he can basically score on any point,” Burden said. “Teams have to respect that, so he takes a little pressure off everyone.”
Sandburg played free and easy against Marist (30-9). Colin Ensalaco added seven kills and Avery Verble had five kills for the Eagles, who have now ousted the RedHawks in consecutive sectional finals.
“Having Grant be able to put the ball wherever he wants is hard to stop,” Verble said.
“We tried to do the game plan, get to Jake at the beginning,” said Marist setter Aaron Kummer, the East Suburban Catholic Conference Player of the Year. “But he was too good. He was really good with his hits and picking out where to go and it kind of fell from there.”
Kummer, a senior, contributed 22 assists and eight digs in his final match. Mike Burcl added four kills and four blocks and Jack Berglind had 14 digs. Both Kummer and Burcl will play at Saint Xavier next year.
But for as good as Kummer and Burcl played this year, Marist struggled to get its attack into gear against Sandburg’s size and length. Hanes, Verble and middle hitters Peter Zachary and Jacob Ostema owned the net.
“Sandburg put a lot of pressure on our hitters and we had a tough time getting into our rhythm,” Marist coach Jordan Vidovic said. “We felt like if we sped up or offense a little bit we could maybe catch them off guard, but we couldn’t do it enough or find ways to score.”
Sandburg played as well as it had all season in Game 1, but Marist didn’t wilt under the pressure. The RedHawks even took a 15-14 lead in Game 2 after a block from Burcl.
The momentum didn’t last long, though. Hanes and Ensalaco landed kills and Burden put the match in the books with a dump.
“They can turn on a switch whenever they want,” Sandburg coach Sean Airola said.
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.