Boys volleyball: Naperville North defeats Benet

Sometimes, all it takes is a gentle nudge to right a faltering ship.

"(Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin) told us that we have to pick up our energy level and make fewer errors," said Huskies outside hitter Michael Jennings about the discussion during a timeout 16 points into Game 2 Tuesday at Benet.

"I knew if we just picked it up, we could start chipping away at the lead," Jennings added. "I didn't think we'd have a 13-0 run or something like that."

Trailing 11-5 in the second set after winning 26-24 in Game 1, Naperville North closed Game 2 on a 20-5 run to defeat Benet 26-24, 25-16 and even its record at 6-6 ahead of a DuPage Valley Conference showdown Thursday at West Aurora.

Jennings led the Huskies with 8 kills, 3 digs and an ace. But neither side was exactly on top of its game.

"It was back-and-forth, but there were so many errors," Bornancin said. "There were a lot of missed serves. I think both sides were so amped up to play each other. This is the first time in my nine or 10 years that we played Benet during the regular season."

Benet (12-6) overcame a 20-16 deficit in Game 1 to earn a set point at 24-23 on a kill by Ben Mazza. But Philippe Russian got Naperville North even with a quick kill over the middle, and the Redwings committed errors on consecutive volleys to surrender the set.

"We had too many errors," Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren said. "At times we played some of our best volleyball. But other times our play was riddled with too many mistakes. Naperville North is a great team. They served aggressively and had a lot of second tempo sets that we didn't pick up."

A kill by sophomore John Folts and an ace by Mazza gave the Redwings the 11-5 advantage in Game 2. But 8 Benet miscues and 5 kills by Jennings contributed to Naperville North's closing run. The Huskies scored the final 11 points of the set, including the match-winning putaway by Derek Amend.

"We're playing as a team," Jennings said. "We're really coming together. We found our starting six and we're getting great support from our bench. They give us a lot of energy, and it really helps."

Mike Josupait added 17 assists for Naperville North, which also got 5 kills from Casey Hiller, 3 kills from Russian and 5 digs from Connor Sheehan.

Folts led Benet with 8 kills and an ace, Mazza added 7 kills and 10 digs, Logan Ladowski had 11 digs and Jackson Van Eekeren added 16 assists and 2 kills.