Glenbard West going to state

With a 7-point lead and six points needed for an upset victory, the Glenbard West boys volleyball team was sitting pretty in the second set against top seed Lake Park.

As any No. 1 team should, the Lancers rallied to a 2-point deficit and had three shots at pulling within 1 but were held off by the Hilltoppers.

Finally, Glenbard West senior Adam Lepold had the ball in his wheelhouse, spiking home a kill to give his team a stunning 25-21, 25-22 win and a berth in Friday’s state quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates.

“I always dreamed about that,” Lepold said. “I’ve been playing volleyball competitively since eighth grade. To have an opportunity like that with all the fans going nuts and to put it away for your team, it feels really good.”

Lepold was everywhere, recording 10 kills and 7 blocks, but none were bigger than his last two for the final points needed to close out a historic win for Glenbard West (32-7).

“We’ve never been to the state tournament. We’ve never gotten past the regional before,” said Hilltoppers coach Christine Giunta-Mayer, whose team play St. Rita next. “We don’t have the experience that these other players, other coaches have, but we don’t need it if we play together. This is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to these boys.”

In the first game the Hilltoppers held a 21-20 lead and ran off three straight points to pull away.

Lepold’s 2 kills were the final points of that game as well and Lake Park (30-8) had no answer for the dominant player experiencing a breakout season.

“I thought Glenbard West played really well,” Lancers coach Brad Baker said. “It was just a serve-receive battle and they were a little better there and able to sideout. Their middle (Lepold), we couldn’t stop him any time he got the ball. We were doing everything we could, throwing everything we could at him and he was so dominant that it makes it easy for everyone else.”

Eddie Keesecker amassed 11 kills for Lake Park and Matthew McCown had 22 assists, but the serve-receive errors Baker mentioned kept the Lancers from ever scaring Glenbard West, having held no more than a 2-point lead in the first game and never leading in the second.

“We needed a couple runs,” Baker said. “We got one when we were down seven but never got the second one. Lepold from the back row finished us off ... The seniors have worked really hard and I’m proud, but it’s hard. If you don’t work hard, don’t do the right things, you’re not even going to be in these matches. They worked hard to be here and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Ian Lawson tallied 8 kills for the Hilltoppers to combine with Lepold, while libero Kevin McGinnis helped start the attack with 11 digs.

That led to Alex Emanuel’s 16 assists, all of which seemed to confuse the Lake Park defense, which never got its block where it should have been.

“Alex Emanuel did a great job of mixing it up,” Lepold said. “They knew Ian and I from club. They know who we are. It’s great that Andrew Smith and Joe Zaccaria, other guys can put the ball away and take the heat off us. It was just a really good team effort.”