Warriors get win despite mistakes

Waubonsie Valley boys volleyball coach Al Lagger was not pleased with his team's play Tuesday evening against Streamwood.

So after the Warriors' 25-17, 25-23 Upstate Eight Conference victory in Streamwood, Lagger had the Warriors run. Then they ran some more. The Warriors ran the length of the volleyball court in two groups for nearly 15 minutes after the match.

"Give Streamwood credit, they played very hard, but it's not the level of volleyball we're used to playing at. We kind of play down to their level," Lagger said. "We made some stupid mistakes and it cost us."

After a sixth-place finish at the Marist Invitational last weekend, the Warriors (4-2, 1-0) opened the conference season against a less-talented team that Waubonsie expected to roll over. But the Warriors' lackluster play combined with scrappy and motivated play from the Sabres kept the match close.

"We haven't been concentrating on the little things," Waubonsie senior Alex Gigler said. "It's all about of the minor details. We don't have any major holes in our game. It's just little things, little details that we're not making the extra effort to do."

Streamwood (0-4, 0-1) trailed throughout Game 1 but was within 1 after a Marcus Greene kill. The Warriors went on a 6-0 run and took a 22-15 lead thanks to a couple of Sabres miscues and the tough serving of Aaron Cox.

Another Streamwood hitting error gave Waubonsie the opening-game win.

The Sabres took a 2-0 lead in Game 2 after a Kevin Wohlhart kill and a lift violation by the Warriors. Streamwood's only lead of the match didn't last long. Waubonsie jumped out to a 10-4 advantage. Again the Warriors' play fell down.

Two kills by Wohlhart, who finished with 10 kills, and several Waubonsie errors brought the Sabres with 1.

Waubonsie increased its lead to 21-16 before the Sabres again fought back to tie the game at 23-23. Gigler, a four-year varsity player, called for the ball on the final two points and put away two kills to give the Warriors the victory.

"(Streamwood) put the ball in play and let us make mistakes," Lagger said. "We weren't playing at a fast pace like we normally play. We weren't able to run a lot of our plays because we weren't passing well. When you can't pass well, you can't set well, you can't hit well. It's as simple as that."