Glenbard West stays calm under Addison Trail's pressure

The Glenbard West boys volleyball team lost a game for the first time this season on Thursday.

But after dropping the first game to visiting Addison Trail 25-19, the Hilltoppers bounced back and took the next two 25-21 and 25-11 to remain undefeated at 12-0 for the season.

"We had on-court leadership to get us to stay calm," said Glenbard West setter Paulie Bischoff. "We knew Addison Trail was a good team. Their serving and ball movement was great. And we haven't played an offense as fast as theirs all year."

"This was a big match because they beat us last year," said Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta. "We were a little out of system in the first game. AT frustrated our offense. Balls we thought we were putting down they put back up in the air. They're an excellent defensive team. Our serve-receive was off in the first game and that's how we usually break teams down."

The Blazers (8-4) held the lead throughout the first game and seemed prime for an upset.

But the Hilltoppers made a few adjustments in the second game and came out much stronger.

In the second game Addison Trail was right in it in an early seesaw battle, but when the Hilltoppers took the lead at 7-6 they held on by a few points, building to their largest margin at 23-18.

The third game belonged to the Hilltoppers from the beginning.

"In the first game we followed our plan to serve aggressively," said Addison Trail coach Chad Grant. "We also blocked and defended better than we have all season. We got them out of system and forced them to make some errors that they don't usually make."

Though they were still formidable in the second game, the Blazers missed eight serves.

"We made a lot of unforced errors in the third set," Grant said. "Glenbard West is a really good team. They're No. 1 in the state for a reason. They're not going to beat themselves. We kind of spiraled out of control at the end. They were the better team today."

"This was a good test for our team," Giunta said. "I wanted to see how they would react to the first losing set of the season. They handled it really well. They kept their poise, figured out what the problems were and then corrected them."

The Hilltoppers balanced attack was led by Kyler Kotsakis, who had 13 kills, Parker Swartz with 7 kills and 4 blocks, Bischoff with 6 blocks. Ryan Condon had 15 digs and a pair of aces, while Kotsakis came up with 12 digs and Bischoff and Eric Button had 5 apiece.

"Our kills being spread out means that we are able to run any system we want to," Giunta said. "We've been running different systems all year. We run whatever's flowing."

Alex Dickmann was the Blazers' leader in kills with a match-high 14 and 2 blocks. Jack Vrchota had 6 kills and 3 blocks. And Kannon Nelms added 5 kills. Setter Joey Nasti moved the ball around for 31 assists.