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South Elgin denies St. Charles North in 2

Nate Marotta thought his night was over.

But the South Elgin senior was summoned back into the Upstate Eight Conference crossover boys volleyball match when the Storm lead shrunk considerably.

"Our coach (Adam Plach) wanted to get some other players some reps," Marotta said.

But the outside hitter, who terrorized the North Stars with 5 service aces, ended the match in the same manner he terminated the opening set: a game-point kill.

Marotta registered a match-high 10 kills to augment his serving prowess to lead the Storm past the North Stars 25-15, 25-22 Thursday evening in St. Charles.

Marotta, a Dayton football recruit, had back-to-back kills for South Elgin (14-4) in the opening game to give the Storm a 14-10 lead.

He then served 4 straight points, including aces on the three consecutive attempts.

St. Charles North (11-13), without the services of three starters - Nic Cook, Tyler DeMoss and Zach Bonstetter - never truly recovered from the serving onslaught.

The Storm would end the first game on a 13-6 run with its service runs being the focal point of its offensive attack.

South Elgin would then never trail in the second set, scoring 9 of the first 11 points of the clinching game.

"I think (the aces) brought them out of (the first game)," Marotta said. "We got some separation from there."

South Elgin employed a balanced offensive attack as Ian Saxton, Owen Bott and Dan Gibadlo all finished with 4 kills apiece.

"I think we just took them out of system," Saxton said of the difference in the match. "They couldn't prepare for our variety (of service styles). We were able to put the ball in some weird places."

South Elgin appeared to make the second set anticlimactic with its one-time 8-point lead.

But St. Charles North would rally on two separate occasions to create a sense of doubt to the final outcome.

Capitalizing on several South Elgin hitting mistakes in both instances, the North Stars' reduced their deficit to 20-21 late.

But Marotta had a vicious kill, and the North Stars would score only once more the remainder of the match.

"Chris (Gibadlo, who had a match-high 19 assists) gave me a good set," said Marotta, who personally closed out the match four points later.

St. Charles North was led by Jeff Rollins (8 assists, 3 digs) and Drew Lanz (4 kills).

"The big difference tonight was you had one team showing up," St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer said. "It's not the first game of the season. It's just not acceptable. The best thing to come out of tonight is that it wasn't the playoffs."

  South Elgin's Nate Marotta blocks a spike by St. Charles North's Drew Lanz in the second match on Thursday, May 1. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Ian Saxton spikes the ball over the net towards St. Charles North's Johnny Davern in the first match on Thursday, May 1. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Chris Gibadlo sets up a spike while St. Charles North's Chris Corcoran (2) and Johnny Davern (12) leap to block in the second match on Thursday, May 1. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Cameron Nylec spikes the ball into the net towards St. Charles North's Jack Kolodziej (6) and Johnny Davern (12) as the tension in the second match heats up on Thursday, May 1. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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