Naperville Central feasts on cross-town win

If Tuesday's boys volleyball match between host Naperville Central and cross-town rival Naperville North had been a dinner, then the Redhawks put star hitter Jack Burton in charge of dessert.

The Redhawks won 25-17, 26-24.

After winning the first game 25-17, the Redhawks trailed 19-17 in the second when Burton served up a sundae of 4 kills to help make it 24-24 and then put the cherry on top with a pair of service aces for the victory.

For Naperville Central, the win avenges a three-game defeat to the Huskies earlier in the season.

Burton - who finished with 13 kills, 5 aces and 2 blocks - is the Redhawks' (22-9, 4-3) take charge guy, and he delivered big-time with the Huskies (19-13, 4-3) threatening to send the match into a third game.

"Jack is the sparkplug of our team," said Naperville Central coach Roger Strausburger. "When his serve is on it's tough to receive. It puts a lot of pressure on the other side."

"I have faith in myself in a situation like that," Burton said. "I know that my team's got my back. I was trying to put those last two serves in to keep the game alive."

"Burton made some big plays," said Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin. "He has an aggressive serve that caused us to struggle a little bit at the end in serve-receive."

Burton credits the work of setter Kevin Prazak, who finished with 28 assists, with his hitting success in the match.

"Kevin gave me perfect sets from wherever he was on the court," Burton said.

Strausburger thought the Redhawks played with a lot more consistency than they had in the earlier meeting between the two teams.

"We blocked a lot of balls and had a lot of good touches up at the net," Strausburger said. "That slowed down their offense."

"Our defense was on point today," Burton said. "We had a lot of blocks and a lot of people coming around and getting digs behind those blocks. That helped us get a lot of transition kills."

Jeremy Parker was the Redhawks' dig leader with 7, and Matt Skowronski added 6 kills and 2 blocks.

Naperville North was led by Frank Dore, who had 5 kills and 2 blocks, while Connor Sheehan, who stepped in for injured libero Phil Olszewski, came up with 10 digs.

"We weren't executing on offense," Bornancin said. "And a lot of that had to do with Naperville Central keeping us out of system. They're a good team, and they also had the will to win the match."

Bornancin was happier with his team's performance in the second game.

"We blocked really well in that second game," he said. "We got our middles going, which was great, and we were able to slow down their offense a little."