Boys volleyball: Stevenson measures up at Lakes

Two generally young teams met on Monday night for boys volleyball in Lake County.

Stevenson, though, brought in a few players with a bit of an experience edge - such as 6-foot-5 Leo Chen and Matt Cliffer, another 6-5 senior.

Those two players looked good in the season opener at host Lakes, which returned no one who played a part in the Eagles' big year a season ago.

Frankly, it was no contest. Stevenson left town smiling with an impressive 25-9, 25-12 victory.

Cliffer and sophomore Gavin Meng led the Stevenson attack 8 kills.

"We have a really young team," Cliffer said. "We also have a lot of guys out for volleyball. Tonight, we worked on our digging and blocking."

With serves flying out of bounds early on both sides, Stevenson led just 6-4 early in set one.

And then Cliffer went into serve for the Pats. With a kill from Meng, it was soon 11-5.

Meng came to volleyball after playing soccer most of his childhood.

"My parents got me into volleyball,'' Meng said. "I used to think volleyball was a girls sport."

Meng's hands are being put to good use these days, as he can clearly pound the volleyball.

With John Angelos serving, the Pats closed out set one. Cliffer had a pair of kills in the rally.

Lakes coach Kevin Glabowicz didn't have much to crow about after the match, except perhaps to know that important experience was gained. The Eagles did get a smile from Ethan Metzelaar after a kill in set two, and Connor Clowers had three consecutive aces in set two.

"We are young,'' Glabowicz said. "We were very old last year. Stevenson is a strong hitting team."

Stevenson's serving hero in game two was Thomas Finn. He started with an ace. Cliffer had a block and a kill. Haddon Kay notched a kill, and it was quickly 11-2.

Cliffer's turn at the serving line also proved fruitful. He had two consecutive aces extending the lead to 19-8.