Bartlett places fourth at Streamwood

Neuqua Valley's road to winning its second straight Streamwood boys volleyball tournament championship wasn't exactly an easy one.

The Wildcats came back from a Game 1 loss to defeat Bartlett in pool play and were without six juniors who were taking the ACT.

Adversity or not, the Wildcats were not going to be denied their repeat, defeating St. Francis 25-20, 19-25, 25-20 in a championship matchup of state-ranked teams.

"We were playing great the whole day," Neuqua Valley's Jordan Robinson said. "We were missing a lot (of players). It shows we have a really deep, versatile team."

Brian Clark finished with 8 kills in the decisive Game 3 as Neuqua Valley did not trail after tying the game at 3. This is the second time in as many weeks that Neuqua Valley and St. Francis have met with the Wildcats taking a two-game victory in pool play of last week's Glenbard East tournament.

"We feel a lot better about this one," St. Francis coach Mike Lynch said. "We ran our offense much quicker than we did last week. All day we had not letdowns."

Jonathan Hayes finished with 19 kills against Neuqua Valley (14-1). The Spartans (10-3) advanced to the championship game by sweeping Streamwood 25-11, 25-11, Elgin 25-11, 25-15 and Wheeling 25-16, 25-11. The Spartans then beat Bartlett 25-20, 25-18 in the semifinals. Bartlett took Neuqua Valley to three games in pool play, 20-25, 25-17, 15-12.

"I knew that Bartlett was going to be a solid team," Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza said. "It was a real close game in pool play."

Bartlett's hot start in pool play did not carry over to the championship round. After falling to St. Francis, the Hawks (8-5) lost to Wheeling in three games after taking a 25-16 victory in Game 1. Wheeling bounced back to beat Bartlett 25-22, 25-13 to take third place for the second straight year.

"We played real tough early match against Neuqua Valley," Bartlett coach John Breines said. "We have a lot of trouble finishing against teams. When we get real close and the score tightens up, we don't believe in ourselves."

Bartlett pulled within 23-22 in Game 2 of the third-place match but never got going in the final game. Wheeling (6-10) jumped out to a 20-10 advantage and Bartlett never really got into the game.

Off to its best start in at least the last five years, Wheaton Academy finished in fifth place. The Warriors (6-3) got a pair of aces from Hans Engebretsen to complete the two-game sweep of Leyden, 25-20, 27-25. Wheaton Academy defeated Streamwood 25-17, 25-20 to advance to the fifth-place match.

"We have a bunch of athletes," Warriors coach D.A. Nichols said. "We might be a bit undersized, but they're coachable."