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McKinney, Metea make blocks count

Junior Alec McKinney contributed three blocks in the Metea Valley boys volleyball team's three games Monday against rival Waubonsie Valley.

The last two came over the final eight points.

They were among the plays that turned the tide just enough for an emotional 21-25, 25-19, 25-22 victory in the Glenbard East regional quarterfinals after losing both regular-season matches to the Warriors.

"Especially with rally scoring, the smallest kill, block, dig can change the whole match, and that (first) block really did it for us," McKinney said. "That momentum shift really helped."

Metea Valley (14-19), the No. 18 seed in the Oswego East sectional, plays No. 2 Glenbard East (30-5) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the regional semifinals for the third consecutive season.

The Upstate Eight Conference champion Rams beat Metea 25-21, 18-25, 25-22 April 14 in Aurora and won last year's playoff meeting. The Mustangs won the 2013 postseason match.

No. 15 Waubonsie Valley (12-24) trailed 15-13 in the third game but pulled ahead 20-18 before the Mustangs scored the next three points, including the key block by McKinney and Alex Szostak for a 20-20 tie.

The Warriors tied the game at 21 and 22, but an attack error and another block by McKinney and Krishna Vannemreddy created match point. Senior Tom Wieland ended the match with his 16th kill.

"Absolutely a huge victory for us as a program, coming back from those two (earlier) defeats," Metea coach John Aister said. "This team has yet to reach their full potential, and I felt like they showed a little bit of that in them. We've kind of had an up-and-down season, but we're peaking at the right time and playing well together."

Wieland was complemented by McKinney, Joe Berka, Jason Bernier, Jordan Hawk and libero Noah Marzuki.

Juniors Jake Furman and Brandon Pedersen, sophomore Levi Jordan and freshman Elliot Myong were among Waubonsie's stat leaders.

Weiland said he tried to attack more this meeting to elude the back-row talents of senior libero Andrew Solomon. While happy with his kill total, Weiland also cited a balanced attack as being important to success.

"I'd say spreading the ball around (helped). A bunch of people got kills," Weiland said. "It's important (to win this) because we've really worked hard as a team, trying to improve, and it really showed today."

Waubonsie Valley's Al Lagger, in his final match after 20 seasons of coaching, also had a season of understandable inconsistency. The Warriors not only had a big turnover from their 2014 lineup but at times had four sophomores, a junior and one senior together on the floor. On senior night May 21 the Warriors led Benet late in their third game but then lost 26-24.

"That's been typical of us all year. It's the inexperience, the youth that cost us," Lagger said. "The core and nucleus coming back should be solid. It's just hopefully that they get better in their clubs and be able to finish."

Lagger called a timeout after Metea opened a 4-0 lead to start, but Waubonsie soon was in front 12-7 and held on after the Mustangs closed to 20-19. In the second game Hawk served four points to put Metea ahead 21-13. The Warriors closed to 21-18 before a key kill by John Lynch on a free ball at the net.

Waubonsie Valley beat Metea in two games April 4 at the Wheaton Warrenville South invitational and 25-20, 23-25, 25-10 in their UEC match April 21 at Waubonsie.

"It came down to execution (this match)," Aister said. "In Game 1 we didn't execute that well, had a number of unforced errors. In Game 2 we cleaned our side of the net up and forced the tempo, forced the issue."

  Waubonsie Valley's Jake Furman fires one past Metea Valley's Joe Berka and Alec McKinney during the Mustangs win during in the Glenbard East boys volleyball regional, Monday. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
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