Opperman leads West Chicago past West Aurora

Andrew Opperman is starting to return to top form.

The senior outside hitter on the West Chicago boys volleyball team was out for three weeks with a perforated ulcer as a result of medicine he was taking for a sore knee.

In Opperman's first week back after being hospitalized, he's had a strong showing. Against West Aurora Thursday, he led all players with 8 kills in the Wildcats' 25-13, 25-20 DuPage Valley Conference win against the Blackhawks in West Chicago.

"(Opperman) is still getting back into the swing of things, but I thought he played well," West Chicago coach Kris Hasty said.

In addition to Opperman's kills, his jump serve was effective in getting the Wildcats off to a strong start in Game 1, as he served the first 5 points, including an ace. West Chicago led 8-1 before the Blackhawks rallied for 4 consecutive points behind the serving of Kyle Pilmer.

West Aurora got as close as 9-7 after an Adam Williams kill, but West Chicago scored eight of the next nine points for a 16-8 lead that forced the Blackhawks (1-8, 0-4) to take a timeout.

West Aurora never recovered, and the game ended on a Blackhawks error.

"We came out," Hasty said. "We played against Wheaton North the other night, and we came out pretty strong against them as well, so we came into this match fairly confident. That was nice to see."

"We played much better in the first game," Opperman added. "We made our serves and our setters worked well with our hitters."

Game 2 was much closer, as there were 6 early ties with both teams missing serves. West Chicago, however, broke through with 4 straight points for a 10-6 lead and never allowed the Blackhawks the lead after that.

West Aurora trailed by 7 twice and cut West Chicago's lead to 4 twice at the end of the game.

Danny Calabrese's kill ended the match for the Wildcats, who improved to 6-9 overall, 2-2 in the DVC.

"We played tough defense, and that was the difference," West Aurora coach Jen Towers said of Game 2. "They worked hard and hustled, but we had a few mental breaks at the net."