Boys volleyball: Leyden gets it going, sinks Elk Grove
It took a little while for the Leyden boys volleyball team to get in to the groove Monday night at the Schaumburg regional.
Once the Eagles did find their mojo, however, there was no stopping them.
Leyden had to rally to win the first set over Elk Grove, then fired on all cylinders in a dominant second set.
The Eagles won 25-14, 25-9.
"We started pretty slow," said Leyden senior setter Rodrigo Caldera, who paced the Eagles with 24 assists. "Afterward we got the hang of it - it starts with everybody talking and that gets everybody going."
Elk Grove pushed forward to an early 4-point lead in the first game, after a couple of kills from senior outside hitter Kevin Doyle and another from Mark Wickstrom.
Leyden finally took the lead midway through on an ace from senior Robert Elem, and a 14-5 run by the Eagles brought them to set point.
Caldera then hit an ace to close out game 1.
"We've had a little bit of time off," said Leyden coach Shelly Mueller, "and we might have been a little tense, knowing this is regionals.
"Once our guys got comfortable on the court though they were able to bring the energy and took care of things after that."
The second set began in Elk Grove's favor when Josh LaRue opened the proceedings by hitting an ace.
"The kids we had out there tonight are young," said Grenadiers coach Dan Windholz, "so I was pretty pleased (with our play)."
The second set quickly went the Eagles' way, however, as Leyden put on an awesome display of hitting, defense, and blocking.
Leyden ran to a 24-9 lead and another service ace, this time from Eagles senior middle Tom Radziszewski, closed out the match.
Elem had 8 kills for Leyden, Radziszewski fashioned 7 kills and 3 blocks, while senior defensive specialist Adam Brimie produced 8 digs.
"I think we've got a lot of tools offensively," said Mueller, "and we've just developed great as a back row. Adam (Brimie) came in as libero in the beginning of May - he was out with a foot injury - and since then the energy of our defense has completely changed, and that was something we were missing early on."