Glenbard West finishes off tourney title

Glenbard West saved the best for last.

After marching through four matches with two-game victories at Springfest on Saturday, the Hilltoppers were one-game up and leading 17-16 in the second against host Glenbard East.

The Hilltoppers then reeled off seven straight points to wrap up the boys volleyball tournament title for the second year in a row with a 25-14, 25-17 win over their district rival.

"We work on clutch situations a lot at the end of practice," said middle hitter Parker Swartz. "We pretend it's an important match tied at 20-20. So we're always ready to go for it in a real match."

Swartz was serving during that decisive run and contributed an ace, while Jackson Nagle had 4 kills and Paulie Bischoff added another.

After an error gave the side-out to the Rams, Kyler Kotsakis's block made it set-match-tournament for the Hilltoppers (8-0).

"Our bench was loud and that gave us energy," Kotsakis said. "We were really focused at the end."

"This was the same situation as last year, playing a great Glenbard East team on their court in the final," said Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta. "And the guys executed perfectly at the end."

The Hilltoppers had defeated Larkin, West Aurora and Plainfield Central to win their pool, then took care of Schaumburg 25-14, 25-15 in the semifinal to set up the championship showdown.

They led Glenbard East (12-1) comfortably through the first game and opened it up to their biggest lead at the end.

The Rams stuck much closer to the Hilltoppers in the second game and still had it tied at 15-15 when Glenbard West went on that final charge.

"Our goal was to have better ball control than any other team," said Kotsakis, who with Nagle was co-leader of the match for Glenbard West with 10 kills each. "We know we have the offensive weapons up front. So our job is to keep the serves on the court and dig everything we can. We did that today and that, basically, was the difference."

Swartz added 9 kills and 4 blocks, Kotsakis was the dig leader with 12, while Ryan Condon added 10.

Kotsakis finished the tournament with 37 kills, 8 aces, 9 blocks and 20 digs, while Condon led the team in digs with 41. Bischoff had 93 assists and Swartz came through with 16 blocks.

Nick Symonds led the Rams with 10 kills in the finals, and Ben Symonds had 7. Adam Eboli had 6 kills and 3 blocks. Tyler Green and Ben Symonds had 7 digs each.

"Today was a matter of them being in system and us being out of system," said Glenbard East coach Marci Maier. "We just didn't have it at the end. We stood and watched multiple balls hit the floor. That's not like us defensively. Glenbard West outplayed us, so we'll just work harder in practice and be better prepared for them next time."

Maier was happy with her team's performance over the course of the day.

"We played well in the earlier matches," she said. "The bench really stepped up so we were able to get to the championship round with fresh legs. This second-place plaque is truly a team win."

In the third-place match Benet defeated Schaumburg 25-15, 25-21.

Downers Grove South finished fifth at Springfest, while Neuqua Valley, Glenbard North and St. Francis finished seventh, eighth and ninth.