Wheaton North makes Naperville N. work for win

Naperville North rebounded from a slow start and closed out Thursday's boys volleyball match against Wheaton North off a pair of blocks by senior middle hitter Kevin Figge.

The Huskies bounced back from a Game 1 loss and held off a Wheaton North rally in Game 3 to pick up an 18-25, 25-19, 25-19 win over the Falcons in a DuPage Valley Conference matchup.

Figge scored the match's final two points on a pair of solo blocks against two attack attempts by Wheaton North middle hitter Graham Clark.

"Those were two huge blocks," Naperville North coach Nathan Bornancin said. "Wheaton North's middle hitter is a monster, and for Kevin to come up with two solo blocks against him was big. It was great for him to do that and contribute."

The Huskies (8-5, 2-0) tallied only 6 kills in the first game and didn't score a point off a kill until setter Jack Rothmund sent a dump over the net that cut the Falcons' lead to 14-12.

"I just feel like we weren't there energy-wise in that first game," Bornancin said. "We had 11 serving errors for the match but were fortunate that we were passing well today and we were able to come back and sideout quickly, so (Wheaton North) didn't go on any big runs."

Naperville North jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in Game 2 on a Wheaton North service error, followed by two straight attack errors.

The Huskies' lead rose to 14-8, leading to a Falcons timeout. Naperville North kept the momentum coming out of that timeout, scoring the next two points off a kill by Frank Dore, followed by a Wheaton North attack error.

"We struggled with our serve receive and too many errors on our part," Wheaton North coach John Noe said. "The attack errors were there. We had a couple of miscues where the ball dropped. When you hand a team too many points, they're going to run away with it."

The Falcons (4-3, 1-1) rallied from an 18-12 deficit in Game 3, starting with a kill by Clark off a set assist by Hank Bowen.

Graham followed with a block, and then two straight service aces by Bowen led to a Huskies timeout.

A Naperville North attack error trimmed its lead to 18-17, but two straight attack errors by the Falcons ended the rally.

The Falcons got as close as one after a block by Clark cut the deficit to 20-19, but kills by Kevin Romy and Figge gave the Huskies some breathing room before Figge's two match-winning blocks.