Addison Trail narrowly prevails over Lake Park
Addison Trail senior boys volleyball middle hitter Jack Vrchota shares the front row with All-Area senior outside hitter Alex Dickmann - and the pressure.
With the Blazers' home opener against Lake Park Thursday tied at 25 in the third game, there was little question where senior Kevin Andrews' sets were headed.
"I thought it was going to go to one of the veteran players," Vrchota said. "By far (Dickmann is) a very good swinger, and it was going to be me or Alex. Other teams focus on us and everything like that, but when it comes down to it, I know me and Alex will be able to put in away."
Vrchota delivered not just one but the final two kills to finish off the Blazers' exhausting 25-20, 12-25, 27-25 victory.
Addison Trail (3-1) had match point at 24-21, but Lake Park (2-4) tied the match 24-24 and again at 25 after the teams exchanged kills off serve receive.
"I told them yesterday in practice this is a 26-24 third-game kind of match so that's what we were expecting," Addison Trail coach Chad Grant said. "(Our players) knew what they were getting into so they were comfortable in that situation. It helps when you have a lot of seniors on the floor. They're used to being in tight matches against quality teams."
Dickmann had 16 kills and 10 digs, followed by Vrchota and junior Kannon Nelms and Andrews. Lake Park was led by seniors Nick Dakajos, Blake Heitman and Austin Patchin.
Addison Trail graduated an outside hitter and libero from last year's regional champion. A senior-dominated Lake Park eliminated the Blazers in the sectional semifinals and finished fourth in state.
"It was kind of more a rivalry (match) I guess in a way. This kind of felt a lot better. It felt like we actually came back and came back stronger," Vrchota said. "I knew that short corner was going to be wide open. I knew that I just had to put it there because it was getting too close. It was getting to be nervewarcking."
Early on, it was all Addison Trail with a 7-1 lead. Lake Park closed to 23-20 but then committed back-to-back hitting errors.
The Lancers never trailed in the second game after a 4-1 lead. They went ahead 5-2 in the third game before the Blazers led 10-8. Lake Park regained the lead at 15-14, but Nelms served four straight points to put Addison Trail in front 19-15.
Addison Trail won its third straight after a three-game opening loss at St. Patrick. All three Lake Park losses are in three games.
"We made some errors at the end. They played smarter at the end. I think they deserved to win," Lake Park coach Tim Murphy said. "It is frustrating. Obviously, Alex Dickmann is the real deal. Our game plan was to try and minimize how effective he would be. He's going to get his kills, but we were able to neutralize him a little bit."
Dickmann dominated the first game with 7 kills and 1 error before seeing multiple blockers aided by the Blazers' serve-receive slump during the second game. Grant said when passing improved in the third game, Dickmann and Vrchota and Nelms could regain their form.
"I'm pretty used to splitting through double blocks, but I was kind of glad that I was getting doubled over other teammates to free up the court for them. They thought I was their only hitter, but we have much more than that," Dickmann said. "We're hoping that we build off of our new players getting used to the game and hopefully capitalize from what we did last season and go even further."
Besides the sectional rematch, Murphy coached for years at Addison Trail and is longtime friends with Grant.
"We go way back," Murphy said. "It turns into a little bit of a chess match. It's always fun to coach against Coach Grant. I just wish we would have got the win tonight."