Boys volleyball: West Chicago comes through against Fenton in third game

Heading into Game 3 of its midday matinee Wednesday with Fenton, first-year West Chicago boys volleyball coach Regina Morrone had one mandate for her charges.

No missed serves. None. Nada. Nein.

The host Wildcats followed through, establishing leads of 9-3 and 18-6 en route to a 25-8 match decider, to improve to 5-2 on the young season. They dropped Game 1 25-27 and won an early neck-and-neck Game 2 25-17.

And there were literally no missed serves in Game 3.

"We missed quite a few serves Game 1 and Game 2, and so I said, Game 3, no missed serves," Morrone said. "Even if you're going aggressive, we still have to keep that ball in play. We stepped up our serving in Game 3 and powered through."

West Chicago jumped out to a 9-3 advantage behind the serving of juniors Caleb Kulesza and Michael Wagner, which forced Fenton coach Heather Petersen to call time out. After the Bison got a point back, senior outside hitter Matt Dupasquier stepped to the service line for the Wildcats.

His serves, including a trifecta of aces, put his team up 14-4, and West Chicago never looked back.

Sure, there were no missed serves in Game 3, but Dupasquier and Wagner, a right side, said there was one more important component that shouldn't be overlooked.

"I think communication is key in winning," Dupasquier said. "We obviously didn't have that the first set, and we also missed none of our serves in the last game, versus the other games, we missed a lot."

So what exactly does communication mean on the volleyball court?

"It's talking on the floor, calling the ball," Wagner said. "Our setter, Peter (Osielski), he started really running the offense, going to a lot of different people, a lot of quick balls, a lot of different plays, it gets us kills easy and running those back row attacks helps us, too."

Kulesza led the Wildcats in kills with 10, while senior libero Matt Enger had 17 digs. Osielski, a sophomore, had 30 assists.

For Fenton, things started off great. The Bison got down 15-9 in Game 1 and rallied to win it 27-25, with the serving of senior outside hitter Edward Hodges reversing a 24-25 deficit late. The game-winning kill came off the hand of senior setter Andrew Hill.

But then things progressively grew cloudy for Fenton, as it fell away from a 9-9 tie in Game 2, before dropping the third, much to Petersen's chagrin.

"First game is pretty much what's been happening all season long," Petersen said, "being neck-and-neck most of the game and we're able to pull ahead and squeeze out a win. Today, progressively, our defense just continued to struggle. Up at the net, our blocking wasn't happening, which made it difficult for the defense, and vice versa."

In Petersen's defense she was missing a pair of starters due to spring break, but that was counterbalanced by the play of Hill, who led the Bison with 8 kills. One thing is going to help Fenton take that next step, Hill said, and it's a familiar word.

"Communication," he said. "That's probably the big issue today. With the guys we had on the floor, I think we played well, but we lacked a little communication."