Addison Trail pulls out victory

The Addison Trail boys volleyball team recorded a victory over visiting St. Patrick on Tuesday that could easily have been titled "The Great Escape."

After playing a raggedy first game and losing 25-23, the Blazers came back and evened the match with an easy 25-10 win.

But it took everything they had to pull out the win 25-23 in Game 3 over a feisty but young Shamrocks team that featured only one senior.

"They certainly didn't lay down for us," said Addison Trail's Brad Connors. "We didn't pass very well tonight. But in the end our defense, our blocking and our energy won it for us."

The Blazers (2-0), who haven't looked sharp in either of their first two victories, looked listless at the start, committing errors and letting routine balls drop to the floor between two and sometimes three players.

The Shamrocks jumped to a 6-1 lead with Dan Donovan dealing a pair of aces in that early run.

"Our guys just looked at each other," said Addison Trail coach Tom Hubner. "Nobody was moving their feet."

The Blazers battled back to take a 16-13 lead, but the Shamrocks showed their resilience and scored 8 straight points behind Donovan's serves to take a 21-16 lead.

Addison Trail caught them at 22-22, but John Coen, who put down a match-high 17 kills on the night, scored the last three Shamrock points on two blocks and a kill to sew up the game.

"They had more defense and they played with more heart," Hubner said. "They outworked us. We didn't play loose."

In the second game the Blazers controlled from the outset, moving better, communicating better and forcing or witnessing numerous St. Patrick errors.

But any assumption of a third-game victory was premature as the Shamrocks battled to the end, closing to within a point several times when the score was in the high teens.

"The good sign was that we played hard at the end in a tight third game," Hubner said. "We stayed with them and didn't give them any momentum. Offensively, we outran them in the middle and that's where we beat them."

"Our defense, our blocking and our energy won it for us at the end," Connors said. "But we definitely escaped with a win."

Connors, who had 8 kills and 12 blocks came up big in the third game, while Mike Fashoda, with 7 kills, 15 digs and 3 aces was consistent throughout the match. Jon Hendricks and Tom Jelonek had 5 blocks apiece and Chris Vazquez dished out 24 assists and Axel Salvo came up with 12 digs.

St. Patrick coach Joel Anderson, who was encouraged with his team's showing, thought the Shamrocks' inexperience showed after the first game.

"When things were going well, we had high energy, good movement and communication," Anderson said. "In the second game we were flat from the beginning. But in the third game we fought hard but had to do a better job of closing the blocks."

He had high praise for Coen, who also had 3 blocks and 10 digs.

"He's a terrific offensive leader," Anderson said. "We could have done a better job of getting him open in the back row."