Lake Park can't pull out state semifinals rematch
In a match featuring a pair of strong boys volleyball programs reloading this season, the difference might have come down to which one got a quicker start on the new campaign.
Defending state champion Lincoln-Way East squared off with Lake Park Thursday in first-round pool play at 13th annual Tiger Classic at Wheaton Warrenville South. The Griffins, who entered play with six matches under their belt in 2015, outlasted the Lancers 25-17, 19-25, 25-16. It was the first action this season for Lake Park (0-1), which lost to the Griffins in the state semifinals last spring before bringing home a fourth-place trophy.
"I know Kris and I were both excited about this match," Lancers coach Tim Murphy said about facing coach Kris Fiore and the defending state champs. "We met last year in the state semifinals. They lost basically everybody and we lost basically everybody, so it was, let's see what you got. Really in my opinion it was the team that made less errors in every game is the one that won."
Lincoln-Way East looked sharp in the opener, grabbing a quick 10-3 lead following a kill from outside hitter Nick Lilley and an error by the Lancers. Lake Park tried to stay close and did trail just 21-16 after setter Austin Patchin fed Kyle Murphy for one of the Lancers senior's 16 kills. But three late Lancers miscues handed the opener to the Griffins (5-2).
Rather than get down after a sluggish Game 1, Lake Park used some solid passing, superb defense and more big hits from Murphy, a 6-foot-2 outside, to draw even at one game apiece. The final two points of second game came off kills from Will Moore and Murphy.
"We would have liked to get the win, but I'm semi-pleased with the way we battled back," coach Murphy said. "A lot of teams after we made 16 unforced errors in Game 1 could have just shut down and we didn't. We battled back. We battled back and took Game 2, we just made too many errors in Game 3."
Even while the Griffins were claiming the decisive third game, the Lancers played their trademark superb defense. Kyle Murphy had 12 digs to go with his big offensive night, and libero Blake Heitman added 10 digs.
"A lot of our guys are coming up from JV so this is their first varsity experience," Heitman said. "I think in that first game it showed that Lincoln-Way East had five, six games (already played) and this was our first game. In the second game we got a little of our nerves out of the way and started to play our style of volleyball and we made less mistakes."
Despite being hard hit by graduation last year, Heitman is hopeful the Lancers will be strong again this season.
"It's tough to lose a lot like that to graduation, but we do have a lot back and we have a great coach and a great program with a lot of pride and tradition," he said.