Wave, S. Elgin take a tumble
St. Edward boys volleyball team has one plan for next week's spring break -- practice, practice, practice.
And if any members of the Green Wave are headed for sunnier pastures and exotic locations?
"Play beach volleyball," St. Edward junior Jim Waclawik rationalized.
After dropping their second game of the season in Wednesday's home opener against Joliet, St. Edward knows what it needs to do. Despite scattered runs, Joliet controlled most of the match and took a 25-1, 25-17 two-game set from St. Edward.
"This is brand new to me," said Green Wave coach Jaime Walton, who is also the girl's head coach. "I'm starting from scratch with a new team. They improve every day."
The Steelmen jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in Game 2 and looked to be in the clear. St. Edward, in particular Miguel Martinez, put down quick 5 points to come within 7-5. Martinez (10 assists) tipped a ball to put St. Edward on the board. After a Joliet hitting error, Martinez recorded a pair of kills putting St. Edward (0-2) within 7-4.
Junior Lucas Belcher's ace capped off the 5-0 run.
Joliet regained its 5-point buffer rather quickly A back-and-forth service error run, coupled with Steelmen kills from Corey Frain (13 kills) and Brent Lundstrum (5 kills) gave Joliet a 12-7 advantage.
A bad serve brought St. Edward back to 12-8, but that was as close as it would get. Joliet went on an 11-5 run, going up 23-13 before winning 25-17.
"We have a lot of work to do," said Waclawik, who finished with 4 kills. "It's the little things like stepping off of the net."
The good thing for the Green Wave is that after two games in as many days, the team will get nearly two weeks off before it hosts IMSA on April 1. In those two weeks, Walton will be able to address the team's needs.
"Now we can start building," said Walton, who has coached the girls team for 4 seasons, but has never coached IHSA boys before. "With a lot of things I didn't know what to expect. Things will come. We have a lot of good athletes in a lot of different positions."
Jack Cholewa led St. Edward with 9 digs, Tyler Vaughan finished with 7 kills and Will Lytle added 3. Adam Hucek finished with 16 assists and Dan Campos added 9 digs for the Steelmen.
Boys volleyball
St. Charles North d. South Elgin: The sole lead of the night for South Elgin vanished in a hurry.
The Storm was opening its Upstate Eight Conference boys volleyball campaign at St. Charles North, and the squad had few answers for the North Stars Wednesday evening.
St. Charles North opened a huge first-game lead, and the North Stars' Grant Livingston served 7 consecutive points to negate their lone deficit -- 1-0 in the second game.
Rusty Lavaja had a match-high 7 kills, and the powerful outside hitter had able company in the North Stars' convincing 25-15, 25-8 Upstate Eight victory in St. Charles.
"A little shaky still," Lavaja said of the overall team effort. "(But) we've got a lot of guys contributing in a number of different ways. (I) missed some serves."
There was little else Lavaja did wrong.
Lavaja had a first-game kill that culminated a North Stars 18-6 run to begin the night.
South Elgin (0-2, 0-1) was its own worst enemy with several service errors in both games, and St. Charles North (2-0, 1-0) was hardly a unit in need of charity.
South Elgin senior Kevin Mui had a pair of opening-game kills, and the Storm did reduce the North Stars' lead to 8 points twice in the first game.
St. Charles North captain Austin Collingborne closed out the first game with a block for a kill, and the North Stars were never threatened in the second game.
"We came out a lot more focused (in the second game)," St. Charles North coach Brad Mitchell said. "We just had to stay with it and not make stupid mistakes. We still missed a few serves."
Lavaja, Tyler Hoerner and Brad Pevonka had kills during the Livingston second-game service run that gave St. Charles North an 8-1 lead.
The North Stars would ultimately register 11 more kills over the course of their following 17 points, and Kegan Haeseli added an ace for good measure.
Lavaja and Haeseli had successive kills to bring match point, which was realized on a Storm hitting error.
"We hit a lot of balls completely out of bounds," South Elgin coach Joni Melahn said. "We're still trying to get it together. We're still a new school; this is only our second year of varsity. (The North Stars) have a lot of heavy hitters."
Akash Patel had the lone South Elgin kill in the second game.
Softball
Aurora Central 1, Hampshire 0: In new ACC coach Claude Ainsworth's debut, the Chargers topped the Whip-Purs, thanks to Casey Regnier's all-around performance. Regnier not only allowed Hampshire 1 hit and struck out 9, but the junior posted ACC's only 2 hits and scored the lone run of the game. She scored in the fourth inning on a passed ball.
Baseball
Huntley 13, Belvidere 3: Senior pitcher Nate Prokuski struck out nine to lead the Red Raiders (1-0) to victory over Belvidere in a five-inning contest. Huntley's bats came alive as 10 hits were created by the Red Raiders. Contributing was Craig Lipp who went 2-for-2 with a double and Nathan Sopena who collected 2 hits. Eliot Swiatly had a double and a run scored.
Cary-Grove 3, Palatine 0: The Trojans (3-0) defeated Palatine in nonconference action. Nick Hammonds had the only extra-base hit, a double, and he collected an RBI. Sean Kaveney earned the win pitching 4 innings and only giving up 1 run.
Softball
Wheaton North 7, Larkin 1: The Royals (0-1) fell in nonconference action to Wheaton North. Sophie Sterricker hit a triple to score Sarah McCleary on Larkin's only extra-base hit and run scored. McCleary suffered the loss for Larkin.