Naperville North plays under control

The Naperville North boys volleyball team played its home opener Tuesday night, keeping in mind an offensive theme of "controlled aggressiveness."

The Huskies played conservative when they needed to be yet aggressive when the situation allowed, earning a 25-17, 25-15 victory over West Chicago in Naperville.

Naperville North seemed to build off its success from last weekend, when the Huskies took first in the Buffalo Grove invitational. Tuesday's game against West Chicago gave coach Roger Strausberger an accurate indication of where his team's focus is heading into this weekend's Tiger Classic hosted by Wheaton Warrenville South.

"(Tonight) seemed like more of a controlled aggressiveness out there on the floor," Strausberger said. "We weren't making a lot of mistakes, there wasn't a whole lot of rah-rah, but I thought we kept a good tempo out there."

Naperville North (4-2, 1-0 DuPage Valley Conference) snagged a 14-4 lead at the outset of the match, as senior Jon Bunge pounded 3 kills to help the Huskies on their way. New setter Mike Buckman handed out 13 assists for the match as he continues to feel his way into the season.

"I like what I'm seeing. I'm sticking with him, and it's just a matter of him making some adjustments," Strausberger said. "He hasn't worked with a lot of the guys on the team because he wasn't setting them last year, so obviously stepping into a new position is different."

The Huskies held a 9-3 advantage in the second game before weathering a Wildcats resurgence that cut the Naperville North lead to 13-9. However, West Chicago committed 7 unforced errors across the rest of the second game to give the Huskies the two-game sweep.

For Bunge, a return to DVC action means a legitimate shot at an unblemished conference season.

"It's always important to be the best in the conference, so we're looking forward to an undefeated season this year," he said. "We've looked at the other competition at the last tournament with Wheaton South, so we're looking forward to playing them and Glenbard East within the season."

West Chicago coach Kris Hasty continues her quest to inspire the Wildcats (1-6, 0-2) to overcome the temporary loss of Andrew Opperman, one of the keys to West Chicago's success.

"We've kind of been struggling since we lost (Opperman), and I wanted to see if we could come back and play with some confidence. We started out a little shaky," Hasty said. "We've got to go to our bench and step it up, and knowing that there's no slouchers in the DVC, you've got to be ready to play every match."