Schuessler, Benet slip past WW South

A Mark Schuessler kill started Wednesday's Wheaton Warrenville South boys volleyball regional final, and a Schuessler kill ended it also.

There were plenty more Schuessler kills in between, too.

Schuessler was credited with 30 kills on the night, and Benet won the regional title with a 25-17, 25-27, 28-26 victory over the host Tigers.

The No. 3-seeded Redwings advanced to the Oswego East sectional finals, where they will meet No. 2 Glenbard East at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

"Schuessler was lights-out," Benet senior Scott Kleiser said. "He was amazing. Anytime we needed a point, we got him the ball and he knew what to do with it. He was great.

"He's always very good, but tonight he played out of his mind."

WW South coach Bill Schreier noticed Schuessler too.

"He was their whole offense," Schreier said. "The second and third set, I don't really know if they set anyone else. It was all him."

"He looked at me once and said, 'There's no stopping me here tonight,'" Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren said. "He's our go-to player. He's a good teammate. He works really hard. We're surrounded by great personnel. It was a good team win tonight."

The first game was close until Kleiser served seven consecutive points to put the Redwings ahead 17-8. The fifth-seeded Tigers (26-6) couldn't get closer than 7 points again in the game.

"We knew going into that second set, a lot of that was on us," Schreier said. "We had a huge stretch there where we gave up a ton of points, and if we can clean that up, we're going to put a ton of pressure on the other team, and that's what we did. We were able to steal that second set, and I thought we put ourselves in good position to do the same thing in the third."

The second game was even closer. Neither team led by more than 3 points, and Benet thought it had the game and match won on a Schuessler kill. The referees called a double-hit violation on the previous dig, however.

The third game was just as close as the second, though each team took a 4-point lead. This time the Redwings (29-7) saw the game out, with junior Jackson Van Eekeren serving the final two points.

"It is hard to come in the playoffs to someone else's home court and win," Amy Van Eekeren said, "and that is a very talented Wheaton Warrenville South team that we just beat."

John Hildebrand had 16 digs for the Tigers, Kolbie Knorr had 11 and Zack Meyer added 7, leading Schreier to call it "one of the defensive matches we had all season."

Kleiser agreed.

"The Wheaton Warrenville South defense was incredible," Kleiser said. "We could get barely any hits past them, and when we did they dug them up right away. They were incredible. Lights-out."

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz