Motivated Glenbard West tops Glenbard East

It might sound like a contradiction, but Glenbard West's mission going into Tuesday's Oswego East boys volleyball sectional final against Glenbard East was to get "hyped up" and also "stay relaxed."

And that's exactly what the top-seeded Hilltoppers did to defeat the Rams 25-18, 25-18 to advance to the state quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School.

"We watched motivational videos at school to get pumped up," said the Hilltoppers' Kyler Kotsakis. "And then we just took it easy on the bus ride over, got here two-and-a-half hours early and played our game."

And the Hilltoppers' game in the sectional final included putting up an almost impenetrable block, consistent serving, great serve-receive and a balanced offense that got everyone on the floor involved.

Kotsakis led the team in kills with 8 and he was followed closely by Jackson Nagel with 7 and Parker Swartz with 6. While Paulie Bischoff handed out 26 assists, the blocks and the digs were evenly distributed as well.

Bischoff had 3 blocks, while Kotsakis, Eric Button, Will Church and Swartz had 2 each. Ryan Condon and Button came up with 8 digs apiece, while Kotsakis and Bischoff each had 7.

"Everyone on our team contributes equally," Bischoff said. "We don't have one guy who stands out. Every player I set can put the ball down. And we have great senior leadership."

"We controlled the speed of the game," Kotsakis added. "We have a lot of offensive weapons to do a lot of damage when we run a fast offense."

Giunta-Mayer praised Glenbard East as the best defensive team the Hilltoppers (37-2) faced all year.

"Every time we thought we put the ball down they put it back up," Giunta-Mayer said. "They're well-coached and they're good. That was like a state-final match tonight."

Game 1 started off fairly close with the Rams (33-6) staying within three points until Glenbard West took control with a 5-point run to make it 19-12.

The second game was similarly close until the Hilltoppers exploded for 6 points in a row with Kotsakis serving to take a commanding 20-13 lead.

"We're kind of an everything-team," Giunta-Mayer said. "We played smart and our block was extraordinary."

The Hilltoppers are quietly confident going into their second straight state tournament.

"Last year we went to state as an underdog," Giunta-Mayer said. "This year we go in with more experience."

"We kind of lost focus after our first match last year," Bischoff said. "We have to keep focused and maintain our positive mindset throughout the state tournament."

Adam Eboli led the Rams with 10 kills followed by Nick Symonds with 7 and Tyler Greene with 5. Andrew Hurlburt dished out 22 assists, while Ben Symonds came up with 13 digs and Nick Symonds had 10.

"We played good defense tonight," said Glenbard East coach Marci Maier. "There were quite a few things we didn't execute as consistently as I would have liked. Glenbard West played well. They kept the ball in play and we didn't run down enough off blocker tips. We did not put down enough balls."