Glenbard North improves as match progresses

Glenbard North steadily got better as Tuesday night's DuPage Valley Conference boys volleyball match went along.

The Panthers defeated visiting Wheaton North 23-25, 25-22, 25-8.

The Panthers rode the front-line production of Scott Schlacks, Brandon Gorzela and Clay Dombrowski on the match with 9, 9 and 6 kills on the night, respectively. Setter Trent Weber turned in a versatile stat line of his own with 3 kills, 22 assists and 5 digs.

"I was pretty impressed with our resiliency," Glenbard North coach Dedra DeBenedetti said. "It was pretty frustrating in that first set because we came out flat. The boys weren't really communicating too much and they weren't playing their game, so it was great to see that they did come back and they fought before they took control of that third set."

Wheaton North (3-13, 0-2) controlled the tempo of the first game, with Glenbard North only holding a lead at 12-11 after four straight aces from Shivam Savani. Wheaton North responded by taking 9 of the next 13 points to stake itself to a 20-16 lead. Despite seeing their lead dwindle to 1 on two occasions, the Falcons held on to win the game.

"We've been trying to find out internally what lineup is going to give us our best shot of winning," Wheaton North coach John Noe said. "We've got a lot of guys who continue to show little blips of greatness, but we're still trying to find that solid second outside hitter who is going to be dependable for us.

"I thought we put together two really good sets of volleyball tonight. That third set obviously didn't go our way."

In the second game the two teams tied down the stretch at 14, 17, 21 and 22 before Glenbard North (8-6, 1-1) managed three straight points on a Schlacks ace, a Dombrowski block and a Gorzela kill for the win. The third game was all Glenbard North.

The Panthers ripped off 6 services aces on their way to the 25-8 win and finished their night with 12 total. The big-serving Savani managed to do the most damage from the service line with 6 aces of his own.

"A lot of times we need that (production from the service line) to get us going," DeBenedetti said. "Aces can give us that fire and drive to really push us and give us momentum."