Boys volleyball: Experience lifts Naperville Central past Neuqua Valley

Naperville Central has found itself trailing late in games many times this year.

"And lost," Naperville Central boys volleyball coach Roger Strausberger pointed out.

Apparently, all that experience is beginning to pay off.

Trailing visiting Neuqua Valley 22-17 in Game 1 and 23-18 in Game 2, Naperville Central closed the first set on an 8-1 run and finished the second with 7 straight points to stun the Wildcats 25-23, 25-23 in DuPage Valley Conference play Tuesday.

"We seemed to get aggressive at the right time and they got passive at the wrong time," Strausberger said. "Coming down the stretch in the first set, we had a block and a bunch a big digs, and coming down the second set we had two or three big blocks.

"We're still spotty at times," added the coach, whose team allowed a pair of 4-0 runs in Game 1 to trail 17-11 and a 4-0 run in Game 2 after the set was tied at 17. "I told the guys we can't put ourselves in those positions where we're giving up 4 or 5 points in a run. We still have to find some more consistency in our hitting and our front row play."

Naperville Central's 6-foot-3 outside hitter Rashad Fattash was the epitome of consistency, ending both sets with a kill. His push shot to an open corner put the finishing touches on Game 1, and his smash down the middle capped the Redhawks' rally in Game 2.

"I've been working on that (push to the corner) all season," he said. "I thought, 'Why not do it on set point?' I tried it out and it worked. That got the whole team fired up."

Fattash said the Redhawks thrived on adversity.

"We love being scrappy," he said. "One big kill, one big block, one huge dig will give us a lot of energy. Once that happens, I feel like we play our best ball. We were able do that tonight. It felt great. We just had a lot of energy, a lot of adrenalin. We love playing like that."

Fattash led Naperville Central (8-8, 1-1) with 6 kills, 2 blocks and 8 digs, Matt Johnson and Felix Egharevba each had 4 kills and setter Jeremy Parker contributed 21 assists.

Neuqua Valley (9-6, 1-1) got 8 kills from Tom Biondo, 5 kills apiece from Karl Deichmann and Gregory Hedrick, and 10 assists, 3 kills and a block from freshman Kevin Kauling.

"You have to execute," Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza said. "You have to go out there and play. Sometimes if you're not in those kinds of situations often, you don't know how to react. Tonight was one of those scenarios. We were up by a lot both times, and we just needed 2 points.

"(The Redhawks) got the points when they needed to," he added. "They played at the end. I don't know if it's one of those things where you just get scared or what. We played well in stretches. The aggravating thing is that's a match we should have won."