Senior setter Landon Harazin and his Riverside-Brookfield High School boys volleyball teammates usually play bigger than their size. The effort led to one of the program’s greatest victories May 14.
The Bulldogs captured their first conference title ever with a 25-20, 27-25 victory at St. Francis in the winner-take-all showdown for the Metro Suburban Conference championship.
“We don’t have a [championship] banner in the main gym,” Harazin said. “That’s what I wanted. Now we can put our year up there. “
The Bulldogs (23-13) completed a perfect 7-0 run through MSC play with only three sets needed to defeat Wheaton Academy.
Seniors Iggy Bielobradek (7 kills, 4 digs, ace), Sebastian Ciszewski (4 kills, 6 blocks), Thomas Dixon (5 digs, 8 points, ace, 2 kills), Harazin (14 assists, 7 digs, 3 blocks, 6 service points), Ricardo Ulloa (7 digs, 5 points, ace) and Angel Herrera (2 kills, 3 blocks) and juniors Liam Reilley (11 digs) and Sam Shelven (4 kills, 3 blocks) paced the victory.
“We’re proud to put up a banner for sure,” Bielobradek said. “We knew right away [this season]. We showed up and said, ‘We know this is a good team. We’re going to give our best.’”
The Bulldogs began state tournament play May 22, beating Naperville North 29-27, 25-22. They will have to beat St. Francis again on its home court in the St. Francis Regional semifinals on May 23 after the Landmark print deadline.
The Bulldogs have won four regionals in program history, their last in 2017 in a 30-9 season.
