Warren rolls past Jefferson

A quick scouting report on Rockford Jefferson's boys volleyball squad: scrappy defensively, won't scare anyone offensively.

Nikk Nelson could scare a few folks on the other side of the net, however.

This was Jefferson's first season of boys volleyball, and while the team took a 26-5 record into Friday night's sectional semifinal against Warren at Highland Park, it was no match for the Blue Devils.

Warren wasn't tested in its 25-15, 25-10 win that earned the Blue Devils a berth in Tuesday's night's sectional final against power Deerfield. It was such a one-sided match that Warren coach Yun Chen was able to use his bench to finish it off.

"That doesn't happen very often in a sectional," Chen said.

The Blue Devils have not made a sectional final appearance since the 2008 season.

"We talk a lot about the 2008 team," Chen said.

Deerfield (32-6) beat Warren (25-13) in two sets earlier this season.

"Deerfield is good," Chen said. "We know they are tough."

Friday's first set was actually close until former baseball pitcher Bryant Holland went to serve and delivered rockets.

"I've been working on my serve all season," Holland said.

Warren setter Arvind Kouta notched 18 assists. The senior complimented the guests from Rockford.

"They were scrappy," Kouta said. "They were good enough to get here. I just felt we played really well."

Chen made it clear to his players that they needed to stay alert to beat Jefferson.

"We knew we couldn't play 50 percent," he said. "We needed to bring enthusiasm and enjoy this."

Kouta's serving in Set 1 pretty much blew open the game. He opened with an ace. And then both White and Max Bongratz registered kills.

Set 2 was similar in many ways. Jefferson was within 8-6 early. Holland's serving again gave Jefferson fits. Libero AJ Ceisel broke the game open with six straight serving points. White and Mitch Maan de Kok earned kills during the run. The Warren lead was 18-8.

"(Deerfield) has some really good outside hitters," Kouta said. "They also have two setters."

Holland believes his team will be ready for the challenge.

"We played pretty well tonight," Holland said. "But we will definitely have to bring our real game on Tuesday. I remember that they are very aggressive and dive for everything. And that they have two outstanding outsides."

Jefferson made a number of errors in this match. Warren's hitting was split up between Maan de Kok (4 kills), Bongratz (4 kills), White (5 kills) and Holland (3 kills).