Boys volleyball: Lake Park advances past Addison Trail
ROCKFORD - Lake Park senior setter Justin Yost is savvy enough to keep everyone involved in the Lancers' high-octane offense.
He also knows when it's prudent to keep feeding a hot hitter.
With the top-seeded Lancers trailing No. 4 seed Addison Trail 15-13 in the opening set of Friday night's Rockford East sectional semifinal, Yost turned to 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Jack Fischer to stem the tide.
Fischer responded by blasting 5 of his match-high 12 kills down the stretch to close out a 25-20 opening-game win. Lake Park built a comfortable Game 2 lead before completing the sweep with a 25-18 victory.
Nick Martinski collected 7 kills while Josh Lange added 6 kills and 2 blocks for the Lancers (36-1), who will face No. 7 seed St. Charles North (20-18) Tuesday night in a rematch of last year's sectional final, in which the Lancers collected a 25-15, 25-20 decision.
"I felt Jack had the hot hand and I just keep setting him the ball and he just kept putting them away," said Yost, who racked up 23 assists and 14 digs.
"As a senior, I don't want it to end here, so I'm just trying to focus on going point to point and game to game and winning the match," Fischer added.
"They had a little bit more offense than we did tonight," said Addison Trail coach Chad Grant. "Their setter Yost did a great job of keeping us off balance. He's very crafty for a high school setter and he knows how to set up his hitters really well."
Addison Trail, which dropped a three-set match to the Lancers earlier in the season, forged in front 11-8 in the opening set behind kills from David Zielinski, Eric Lynch and Jacob Grygo.
The Blazers still led 15-13 when Lake Park seized control with 6 straight points with Jordan Haigh at the service line.
From there Fischer and Martinski landed kills to account for 5 of Lake Park's final 6 points.
"I feel like Addison Trail came out and played really well," said Lancers coach Tim Murphy. "They served received tough and they knew some of the things we were going to do."
Lake Park turned up the intensity and buried the Blazers early in Game 2.
Lange stepped up with a pair of kills and a block during a 5-point service run from Tommy Samaras that extended the Lancers' lead to 13-4.
"We had our game plan to make sure they couldn't use their setter (Grygo) to their full ability," Yost said. "He's probably their best hitter and I think we executed well as the match went on."
The Blazers pulled to within 19-17 before the Lancers impressively reeled off 8 of the final 10 points. Grygo finished with 5 kills and 8 assists to lead Addison Trail (21-17) while Colton Noel contributed 3 blocks and a pair of kills.
"We did a good job of fighting back in the second game, but it's tough to play from behind against a team that good," Grant said.