Time's right for Glenbard East to edge Benet
On a night with many powerful kills, Glenbard East also managed to throw in some very timely shots that did not include big swings.
In the second boys volleyball sectional semifinal at Oswego East, the second-seeded Rams outlasted Benet Academy 28-26, 22-25, 25-22 Friday night to advance to a berth in Tuesday's sectional final against No. 1 Glenbard West. Glenbard East worked around the Redwings' big block in the decisive third set with a number of tips that turned into points, including the match-winner by senior outside Matt Morales.
After each team had claimed a set and the Rams (33-5) had built a seemingly solid 22-16 lead, the Redwings fought back to within 24-22 before Morales fisted a tip shot that landed safely on the Benet side of the net to end the lengthy battle.
"That tip by Matt Morales at the end of the game was huge," Rams coach Marci Maier said. "It was the game-winner, and on a tip. Typically in the guys' game you don't see a ton of tipping … but we had been swinging away and swinging away, and Matt Morales' timely tip at the end of the game to seal the deal was definitely a welcome sight when that ball went down."
The opening set - and the match, for that matter - could have gone either way, but the Rams used a stellar defensive effort all night to barely hold off a Mark Schuessler-led Redwings squad. The 6-foot-7 outside followed up his 31-kill effort in a regional final win over Wheaton Warrenville South with 27 more kills on Friday night.
"We knew we had to fight for every point and defensively and hustle wise, I couldn't have asked for any more," said Maier. "I don't think there were too many balls hit the floor without one of our bodies flying after it. Mark Schuessler is a phenomenal player. We were fortunate to get a couple of touches on him at the end of the game."
Friday's opening set featured nine ties, the last of which came after the Redwings missed a serve up 26-25. A tough violation was then called against Benet for 1 point, and Adam Eboli gave the Rams the win with one of his 5 blocks on the night.
Benet, which was led on the night by both Schuessler and Scott Kleiser (10 kills, 4 blocks), rebounded to take the second set which was capped by a kill from Alex Yates.
Glenbard East, which was paced by 10 kills from Tyler Greene and 9 kills and 11 digs from Nick Symonds, made enough big plays to pull out the final set. The team as a whole excelled on defense, and libero Ben Symonds was all over the court while finishing with 21 digs.
"Obviously the defense was fantastic. The boys showed great composure this evening," Maier said. "I have 10 seniors and I thought they showed great composure and fight tonight."
An emotional Redwings coach Amy Van Eekeren loved her team's effort Friday, but knows players like Schuessler, Kleiser and the fellow seniors will be missed next season.
"I don't have any regrets. They played as hard as they could," she said. "I'm so proud of the fact that they came back and took the second game … to be down a set and come back and take the second one and play as aggressively as we did in set three, I couldn't be prouder. This is am amazing group of young men that has fought hard all year."
Schuessler, who put away an incredible 58 kills in his final two matches with Benet, echoed his coach's sentiments afterward.
"I feel like we left everything on the court," he said. "There isn't anything we should be upset about. We came up a little bit short, but I'm definitely not disappointed with how we did today."