Boys volleyball: Naperville North defeats Neuqua Valley

As the Naperville North boys volleyball team prepares for the postseason, it will continue to lean heavily on a group of talented seniors.

In Tuesday's 25-22, 25-23 DuPage Valley Conference win at Neuqua Valley, senior outside hitter Michael Jennings paced the Huskies with 9 kills and fellow senior setter Kyle Josupait ran a solid offense. Meanwhile, fellow veterans Philippe Russian and Casey Hiller also had key contributions in the tight sweep of the Wildcats, with Russian's kill ending the opener and later his block ending the match.

But coach Nathan Bornancin seemed most excited about the progress of juniors Derek Amend and Sam Wittwer. With those two joining the strong senior class, the 18-13 Huskies have shown flashes of late of a team ready to make some noise at the upcoming Glenbard West sectional.

"I thought Derek had an amazing match," Bornancin said of his middle blocker, who had 7 kills. "Overall we passed very well and I like the way Sam played. You know Mike, and Casey and Philippe, those three big hitters they're going to get kills for you because they've been doing it the last two years - and with Mike the last three years. To see us go to Sam at the end of a match and have him come away with a big kill for us is great. And to go to Derek … these are guys that two years ago were playing in a freshman match."

With the Huskies ahead just 19-18 in Game 1, Amend picked up a big kill that helped the visitors claim the opener 25-22 despite trailing 16-11. After the Wildcats (15-12-2, 2-3) scored three straight points to tie the second set at 23, Josupait set up Amend, who buried a shot in the right corner to set up match point.

"It was solid all the way around and I thought both teams took some big swings," Bornancin said. "I thought we executed really nicely on offense and sideouted really well, and I think that's what kind of turned the tables for us and won us that match."

Wittwer had a solid all-around game with a team-leading 8 digs along with 3 kills and 2 blocks. But the 6-foot-6 Hiller had 4 kills and 3 blocks, and Jennings not only led the way in kills but also used his nasty serves to keep Neuqua Valley off track.

"I felt like we were pretty consistent throughout that match and we had a lot of energy which is great," said Jennings, who tipped his hat to the hosts afterward. "All of us wanted to win and that was definitely a team effort. which was great, especially against a team that's been hitting hard and they also had great serves so that was really tough for our offense. I felt like we did a good job adjusting and not swinging at balls that weren't there."

For the Wildcats, Tom Biondo led the way with 5 kills, while Jack Dentzman had 12 assists and middle Kevin Young 9 blocks.

"It was one of those things where little things here and there made the difference," said Wildcats coach Erich Mendoza. "Balls that we could have played back that we didn't, and times where we could have gotten a kill when we needed a kill, but the timing was off with the setter and the hitter."

Wildcats senior middle Gregory Hedrick thinks his team just needs to fine-tune a couple things in order to pull out these types of matches.

"In the first set we had really good passing and our hitting was off," he said. "In the second game our passing was a little off but our hitting was really on. We just need to really work on the serve receive in practice and pushing through to the end."