Boys volleyball: Glenbard West, Lake Park to meet in sectional final
Senior outside hitter Nick Martinski and his Lake Park boys volleyball teammates knew that the path to a state championship probably would have to pass through three-time defending champion Glenbard West.
This postseason the Lancers have the challenge a little bit earlier.
No. 2 seed Lake Park (32-5) and the top-seeded Hilltoppers (35-3) will meet for the Addison Trail sectional championship and a state quarterfinal berth at 6 p.m. Tuesday after the Lancers defeated No. 11 Fremd 25-18, 25-19 and Glenbard West defeated No. 5 St. Charles North 25-15, 30-28 in Friday's sectional semifinals.
"We're both going for state so we're going to be gunning for each other," said Martinski, who has played in three state tournaments and senior Jordan Haigh two.
"It's just another opportunity, another block in the road. If you really want to accomplish your goal, you've got to win and you've got to beat the teams in your way."
The Lancers have reached the last four state quarterfinals. They finished third last year without facing Glenbard West but lost to Glenbard West in the 2016 and 2015 state quarterfinals and the 2014 third-place match.
First-year Lake Park coach Brian Fischer, a 2012 graduate and former player, has been an assistant coach the past three seasons.
Glenbard West beat Lake Park 26-24, 25-15 at Glenbard East's Springfest semifinals April 7.
"We talked to the guys about having the mindset that our goal is, hopefully, win a state championship and you're going to have to beat the best. It doesn't matter what (playoff) game," Fischer said.
"Obviously it makes it a little tougher to get out of sectionals than it has in the past for us, but we've talked about just accepting the challenge. I think it's going to be a fun one, two really powerhouse programs over the past few years."
Against Fremd (19-13), Martinski had 12 kills, Samson 17 assists and senior libero Nick Carzoli's 12 digs.
The Lancers were most pleased with never allowing the Vikings any three-point runs during two tight sets.
"Siding out is a big part of the game that we focus on," Fischer said.
Behind senior setter Bob Samson's serving in the first set, the Lancers had two two-point serving runs and a 3-pointer for game point at 24-18. In the second set the breakthrough was an Austin Bayner/Sampson block and Bayner kill with senior Joseph Wrobel serving to pull ahead 16-13. Bayner later served two points on a triple block and Haigh kill to lead 20-15.
"In bigger games you can't let teams go on serving runs," Martinski added. "You've got to be able to side out really fast so against Glenbard West we're going to need to really do that."
The Vikings were led by senior twins and co-captains Aaron Peterson and Jacob Peterson, who had 10 kills and 15 assists, respectively. Jacob will play next season at Sacred Heart.
"I think the difference was our (10) service errors," Fremd coach Nick Pinley said. "Lake Park did the job they needed. You've got to score three points on your serve because they're always going to get one back on the sideout. That 3-point swing can become 25-21 if we side out all night long."
Fremd made its first sectional appearance since 2010, by avenging a loss to No. 3 Addison Trail in Wednesday's Schaumburg regional final and two regular-season losses to No. 6 Schaumburg in the regional semifinals.
"As the year went on, we had belief in each other and made a farther run than we expected," Aaron Peterson said.
"We had a real nice push at the end of the year. They should feel really good about that," Pinley said.
St. Charles North (27-13) pushed Glenbard West to the brink in the second game after the Hilltoppers controlled the first behind a 12-3 start.
St. Charles North led throughout the second game before the Hilltoppers rallied from a 16-11 deficit into a 20-20 tie. The North Stars then withstood four match points before the match ended on an attack error.
"I'm so proud of them. We've been talking about patience," Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Mayer said. "It's a marathon. We just started chipping. I love that about this team. They all can make mistakes because somebody else picks them up."
Glenbard West sophomore Ben Harrington sparked the second-game rally with 7 of his 9 kills. Henry Curtis had 28 assists and libero Zack Morris 11 digs.
St. Charles North senior Tommy Koppang had 7 kills and senior David Beach 11 assists. Beach considered the second set among the North Stars' finest this season.
"The first set we were kind of tight. With the season on the line, we just kind of had fun," Beach said. "We just went out had fun and played ball. With every point everyone was just cheering, having fun. We played smart, too."
Koppang and Glenbard West's J.T. Ardell, who had 6 kills, will be teammates next season at Pepperdine. Friday's match was similar to Glenbard West's 27-25, 25-18 victory at St. Charles North in the regular-season finale May 17.
"It was the same exact game, except the sets flipped," Glenbard West senior Stone Metz said. "They came out firing in the second set (Friday) and kind of caught us off guard a little bit, but we battled back. We had a lot of young guys at the beginning of the season that were inexperienced and they've come to play every single game."
St. Charles North made a program-best third straight sectional trip with Koppang and libero Max DeDobbelaere members of all three squads. This season included 10 seniors, an undefeated conference title run and coach Todd Weimer's 200th coaching victory.
"This is a great group. Their leadership has been outstanding, phenomenal," Weimer said. "We were right there (Friday) and just couldn't quite execute and finish it. They've got that extra gear, a little notch. They jump a little higher when they need to, play a little bit faster."