Boys volleyball: Glenbard East's new faces top Willowbrook

Glenbard East won 23 matches and shared the Upstate Eight Conference title last year riding the broad shoulders of dynamic All-Area do-it-all Tyler Greene.

But Greene graduated last spring, so this season the Rams are looking to his understudies - Mason Arnold, Adrian Cebula and Justin Murphy - to carry the load.

Arnold had 9 assists, 4 kills, 2 blocks and 13 digs, Cebula added 7 kills and 6 digs and Murphy contributed 7 kills and an ace as Glenbard East rolled past neighborhood rival Willowbrook 25-9, 25-13 in both teams' season opener Tuesday in Villa Park.

"We have 10 or 11 guys back from last year, and I think we work well together as a team," said Arnold, a 6-foot-1 setter/outside hitter. "We have a good offense and our defense has been pretty solid so far. We have a team that likes to hustle.

"If we keep practicing and working hard like we have been, it will come through in games like it did today," he added.

Glenbard East raced to leads of 10-3 in Game 1 and 10-4 in Game 2 despite the absence of two injured starters and a third key player sidelined for the early part of the season. That forced coach Marci Maier to make some adjustments to her lineup, such as moving Cebula from the middle to the pin.

The switch didn't seem to bother the 6-foot senior.

"I started out as a middle," he said. "Then during my 18s year in club, I was moved to the outside. So now I'm playing both. I really like outside because it's something new, but the middle has always been my thing."

Despite the loss of Greene and his 265 kills, 108 digs and 22 blocks, the Rams still expect to do some good things this spring.

"When we walk into practice, we get down to business," Cebula said. "The coach (Marci Maier) expects it of us. The expectations are high."

Willowbrook coach Ryan Bazon expects improvement from his team, which got 5 assists from Calvin Linnig, 4 assists and 2 kills from Nick Cookingham, and 3 digs and 3 kills from Brendan Waldorf.

"It's always nice to play Glenbard East first because you know where you're at right away," he said. "I told the guys we'll get back to the gym and get some stuff figured out.

"We have a lot to learn," Bazon added. "We're really young. Some of the kids were nervous. We have nine juniors who played JV last year and only four seniors. It showed a little bit."