Glader twins help extend Barrington's indoors fun
Somehow, volleyball wrangled in outdoorsy twins Justin and Adam Glader.
Normally, they spend their time outside, hiking in the woods or canoeing on rivers. They also like woodworking, fishing and hanging out on their family's farm in Minnesota.
"Everything to do with the outdoors, we do it," Adam Glader said.
With facial hair that is thick and full and covers the majority of their faces, the Glader twins even have a look that says they'd be most comfortable in flannel shirts, old jeans and boots.
And yet, in their perfectly matching uniforms, inside a steamy gym in Antioch, they also looked pretty comfortable throwing down kill after kill Friday night for Barrington in a sectional semifinal match against St. Viator.
The twins, senior hitters, combined for 11 kills to lead Barrington, the top team in the state, to a 26-24, 25-16 sweep of St. Viator. The Broncos, who are now 33-2, will return to Antioch on Tuesday to play in the sectional championship game against Vernon Hills, a 25-17, 25-27, 25-23 winner over Lake Zurich in the other semifinal.
"Our dad played beach and intramural volleyball when he was a kid and he said that we should try out for the volleyball team and we ended up loving it," Justin Glader said.
"But we kind of lead two different lives," Adam Glader added with a smile. "We have a volleyball life and then a totally different life outside of volleyball. Not that we're different people, but kind of."
There was certainly no Jekyll and Hyde in the Gladers against St. Viator, though. They consistently came up with one big play after another.
When St. Viator (25-14) would put together a little run of offense, it was often a Glader who would put an end to it with some thunderous offense of his own.
"Justin and Adam had really nice matches," Barrington coach Rob Ridenour said of the twins, who will be playing in college together next year at Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia. "They're really nice players to have because they are their best in important matches. I don't think they feel a lot of pressure. They're really ready to go in these types of matches.
"Justin is our bomber, our offensive force, and Adam brings a lot to the table. He blocks really well and he plays really good defense and is a solid offensive player. They both just started playing their freshman year, but they're such good athletes that they've been able to do really well at it."
Ethan Carroll added 6 kills for Barrington, which played to its strength, a tall and deep stable of hitters. The shortest players in the starting lineup are Adam Glader and setter Noah Ricchetti (15 assists), both of whom are 6-foot-3.
Justin Glader is 6-foot-5 and Carroll is 6-foot-7.
"They (Barrington) are big all the way around," said St. Viator coach Chris Boylan, whose team was swept by Barrington during the regular season as well. "They can hit out of the back row. They have five offensive weapons on the floor at all times.
"You may get on a run, get one or two and then they can go anywhere and hit the ball down with authority."
James Woods led St. Viator, which had won its first regional title in 10 years last week, with 4 kills while Ryan Schiller and Matt Drab finished with 3 kills apiece. Setter Vito Brunetti had 13 assists.
"We had some mistakes with serving errors and it added up," said Drab, who will be joining the Marines next year. "We're usually a lot better than that, and when you have errors like that, the momentum is gone.
"But throughout this season, we've really grown as a team and we really stepped it up. To get a regional title after 10 years is pretty good. We weren't even on the map four or five years ago. I'm really proud of everyone on the team."