Defense leads St. Charles North past rivals
The slogan "defense wins championships" is commonly related to football, basketball and other sports.
St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer believes this motto applies to boys volleyball, too.
On Tuesday, the North Stars blanketed St. Charles East's offense with one of their top defensive performances of the season, racking up a whopping 46 digs in just two sets to knock off the Saints 25-19, 25-18 in a crosstown clash at North. The victory enabled the North Stars (10-4 overall, 2-0 Upstate Eight River Division) to reach double digits in wins and take over first place in the conference.
North frustrated East with a mix of persistent back-row play from outside hitter Drew Lanz (14 digs), libero Trevor Gonzaga (10 digs), setter Danny Throop (8 digs), defensive specialist Zac Cook (6 digs) and company as well as a slew of blocks at the net, including five block kills. Gonzaga highlighted North's "dig party" with two pancakes of East tips.
"We seem to have a lot of confidence going in our blocking and defense," said Throop, a sophomore first-year varsity player who delivered 22 assists as the sole setter in North's 5-1 system. "Gonzaga, Cook and (Bryan) Verstat are great players in the back row. Their defense makes life easier for me as a setter. They allow me to run our offense and get the ball to our many hitters."
The North Stars limited the Saints (6-8 overall, 0-2 UEC River) to just 11 kills in the match, starting quickly by building a 10-4 first-set lead on a tip kill by Lanz (7 kills). East rallied to draw within 12-10 on an ace by outside hitter Michael Carbonell and a North lift violation, but the Saints could draw no closer. The North Stars bottled up East's hitters and dug up a range of spikes, tips, quick hits and back-row attacks, whatever the visitors could throw at them. The hosts also benefited from some errant East passing, including a handful of overpasses that North's front-row hitters pounded home for kills.
"Regardless of who we play, we struggle with consistency," East coach Kate McCullagh said. "It was a case of mentally we weren't prepared. Yesterday we beat Wheaton North in two (sets), then our play turned into this today. We weren't as intense today."
The second set went back and forth early. East bounced back from losing the first set as well as suffering an ankle injury to middle hitter Jack McCann to grab a 7-6 lead on a North midline violation before the North Stars began pulling away. A kill from the left side by Brendan Donlevy (9 kills) and a kill by right-side hitter Danny Hamilton (7 kills) pushed North ahead 12-10. A pair of kills by Lanz (7 kills) and a back-row attack for a kill by Cook provided breathing room at 15-11, and the North Stars were never threatened from there, clinching the set and the match on a block kill by Lanz.
"We felt we were focused throughout the match on what we needed to take care of," Weimer said. "My libero and DSes had some great plays to take the wind out of (East's) sails. We were pretty scrappy throughout the match. It's always fun to beat East, our crosstown rival, and these conference games are really important because we only play each conference team once."
Setter Jake Lauger paced the Saints with 11 assists. Sophomore middle blocker Jack Macklin had 3 kills.
The Saints will try to rebound on Thursday when they face St. Francis. The North Stars are off until Monday when they play the same St. Francis squad.