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Third game the difference for Glenbard East

At the end the Glenbard East boys volleyball team kept its cool and came away with a victory.

It took the Rams three games, but they finished strong and finally put away a feisty Metea Valley volleyball team for the a 25-21, 18-25, 25-23 win in Aurora.

"We started slow¸ lacking energy," the Rams' Tyler Greene said. "We picked up our intensity and poked through at the end. Our past three dual matches have gone to three sets, so we know how to handle it in the third set."

"Metea Valley played some of the best defense we've seen all year," said Glenbard East coach Marci Maier. "Balls we normally put down for kills, they were diving for and hustling all over the place. But our blocking was great tonight. And we came through with some big hits at the end of the third game."

The Mustangs (5-10) came out of the gate quickly and jumped out to a 7-2 lead. An 8-point run by the Rams (13-1) that featured four blocks for points, three by Bob Luchetta-Stendel and one by Jamie Wareham, and an ace by Greene, put them ahead 13-8.

The score was tied on three straight points in the teens, and then a pair of kills by Greene made it 20-18.

And it was Greene again who put down the kill for game point.

In Game 2 the teams were even at the beginning, but the Mustangs took the lead for good at 9-8 on a kill by Krishna Vannemreddy and they got some separation at 17-11 on a sequence that included three kills by Alec McKinney and one each by Tom Wieland and Noah Marzuki.

Game 3 looked like anybody's ballgame, until that Glenbard East energy kicked in and a 5-point binge put the Rams up 14-9, courtesy of a pair of big kills by Matt Morales and one by Wareham.

After the Mustangs closed the deficit to 23-22, the Rams put together the final two points for the win.

"That game could have gone either way," Maier said. "We executed at the end by playing aggressively and taking full swings. Tyler Greene put up a huge point near the end on a back-row attack."

Greene had a big all-around night for the Rams with 10 kills, 3 blocks, 10 digs and a pair of aces.

Luchetta-Stendel had 5 blocks and Wareham added 3. Ben Cartwright led the team in digs with 11 and Andrew Hurlburt dished out 27 assists.

For Metea Valley Wieland led the way with 15 kills, 2 blocks and 9 digs, while Vannemreddy hit double figures with 10 kills. Marzuki led the Mustangs scrappy defense with 15 digs followed by Joe Berka with 12 and Jordan Hawk with 10

"This was a good effort by us tonight, but we just came up a little short," said Metea Valley coach John Aister. "We were right there. But we let them get a little bit of a lead in Game 3, and we were fighting back the rest of the way. This was one of our best matches of the season and I think it gave us some confidence that we could play with a good team like Glenbard East."

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