DVC shows its depth
There was no tournament championship in the cards, but the DuPage Valley Conference acquitted itself well at the Mustang Volleyball Invitational at Downers Grove South.
Naperville North, the highest-finishing team from the DVC, came in fourth after winning a trio of matches before losing to eventual tournament winner Barrington in the semifinals.
In the match for fifth place, Wheaton Warrenville South, which had lost to the Huskies earlier in the day, defeated Lake Park, a bit of a surprise entry in the Gold Division after beating two opponents in pool play on Friday.
Naperville North knocked off Wheaton Warrenville South in the first single-elimination match Saturday 27-25, 20-25, 25-20.
"This tournament showed that we can stay with really good teams if we play our game," said Naperville North libero Phil Olszewski. "Against Wheaton Warrenville South we had energy and discipline. We were able to limit our errors and to capitalize on their mistakes. We have a lot of determination. It doesn't matter who we're playing, if we have the energy we're in the match."
Coach Nate Bornancin thought the Huskies, who started the season on a rough patch, gained confidence with last week's win over archrival Naperville Central.
"Beating Central earlier in the week gave us some momentum coming into this tournament," Bornancin said. "In our three victories here our setters did a nice job of moving the ball around, and our middles stepped up big. When we were struggling there was always someone to pick us up. I'm excited. This is something for us to build on."
Michael Jennings was the Huskies' kill leader with 52 for the tournament and Olszewski had 77 digs.
Naperville North lost to New Trier 25-18, 25-17 in the third-place match.
Wheaton Warrenville South rebounded from the quarterfinal loss to the Huskies with wins over Deerfield and Lake Park to finish the tournament on a high note.
"We didn't come out strong in either the first or third set against Naperville North and that cost us the match," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier. "In the two other matches today we were fortunate enough to not make errors. When we clean it up on our side of the net we're a tough team to beat."
The Tigers finished the tournament with a 4-1 record.
The team they bested for fifth place, Lake Park, also had a shaky start to its season but has righted the ship in recent contests.
The Lancers, with an inexperienced team after graduating many seniors from last year's squad that finished fourth at state, pulled a mild upset by making the Gold Division with a pair of pool-play wins on Friday.
After being defeated by Loyola in the first match on Saturday, the Lancers came back to defeat host Downers Grove South before the loss to Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We're getting better every day," said Lake Park coach Tim Murphy. "We're starting to play as a team. As long as we continue to improve we'll be in a good spot at the end of the year."
Barrington defeated Loyola for the tournament championship.