Riverside senior Luka Kostic and his Lyons Township High School boys volleyball teammates have continued the momentum of last year’s second-place state finish.
“We want to make it back to the state championship,” Kostic said. “We’re all feeling really confident but we still have a long way to go, to keep improving and focus and take it one game at a time.”
LTHS (30-5) enters the Sandburg Sectional as the No. 2 seed behind No. 1 Oak Park and River Forest (22-9) and Riverside Brookfield is the No. 13 seed.
The Bulldogs (13-25) opened playoff action Monday by beating No. 21 Proviso East 25-18, 25-21 at Sandburg. RBHS played No. 4 Sandburg Tuesday with the regional final is at 6 p.m. Thursday.
In 2023, the Bulldogs won their first conference title. They won this year’s three-team Metro Suburban Conference with a 3-1 mark as Ridgewood and Elmwood Park were 2-2.
Last year, RBHS captured the winner-take-all conference title match at St. Francis but returned the following week and lost to the Spartans in the regional semifinals.
This time, the Bulldogs play Sandburg (23-12) after just losing to the Eagles 25-21, 25-21 May 15. RBHS led one set 13-9 before Sandburg went on a 9-0 run.
“We’ve had a really versatile group (this season), a number of players who have played at a few different positions,” RBHS coach Dan Bonarigo said. “It’s nice we have people that can fill in multiple roles.”
With many newcomers and players stepping up in practice, the Bulldogs also have had numerous starting lineups.
Senior Liam Reilly, an all-conference libero in 2023, has 227 digs but also 136 assists as a part-time setter. Other standouts include Sam Shelven (133 kills, 55 blocks), senior C. Duncan (113 kills), senor G. Angshed (76 kills), and Frank Cervantes (224 assists), juniors A. Oltrogge (109 kills, 44 blocks), J. Long (101 kills), J. Schejbal (93 kills), junior C. Rubio (51 kills), Leo Keohane (258 assists, 22 aces). T. Austin (105 digs).
“I have fun doing both but libero I like playing a lot,” Reilly said. “I thimk I’ve been doing pretty good so I’m enjoying it, having fun. That’s what matters to me. As a team, we’re very composed and we play very well. Just little stuff that ruins us.”
Like the Sandburg match, RBHS coach Dan Bonarigo said four- and five-point runs by opponents have been the decisive factor in some matches.
In 2023, the West Suburban Conference Silver Division had all three trophy teams with perennial power Glenbard West taking another title and OPRF finishing third. The Lions were 4-2 in this year’s Silver standings, losing at Glenbard West May 14 and at OPRF 25-23, 25-23 April 9.
Kostic, a key contributor to last year’s success, has compiled 266 kills and 135 digs. Other stats leaders include Tommy Culver (632 assists, 23 aces, 30 blocks), Brody Lee-Caracci (171 kills), Vaughn Guilfoile (227 digs), Tyler Chambers (99 kills, 57 blocks) and Zaccary Ruiz (171 kills, 114 digs).
Kostic was named MVP as the Lions won the Richards Tournament and Culver and Lee-Caracci were all-tournament. Kostic also was all-tournament at Argo, where LTHS took second, and Downers Grove South.