Warren's dream season continues

The Warren boys volleyball team opened its season March 18 with a disappointing loss to Highland Park.

That match must seem like a lifetime ago to the Blue Devils.

Since then, Warren's only loss came to a highly-regarded team in California. The Blue Devils went 6-1 on its spring-break trip, and upon returning home captured titles at their own Blue Devils Tournament and the Lake County Invitational.

Through Tuesday, Warren sports a 20-2 record. This weekend, the Blue Devils will try to win their third tourney title when they compete in the Palatine Invite.

"In California everybody (understood) the roles they have to play," coach Yun Chen said. "That's what we came out of California realizing."

The supporting role of the bench was particularly important in California and in the later stages of long tournaments.

"The bench's energy helps the players on the court and played a huge role in us winning some matches," Chen said. "We feed off that energy. They don't let us lose our intensity."

Added senior opposite Ryan Schuette: "The bench played a big role, especially Mark Pati. He leads a lot of the cheers and gets us fired up."

First-year assistant coach Kathleen Russell has been impressed with the Blue Devils' chemistry.

"They get along so well," she said. "They don't really argue, and that's not always the case. They kind of just stick by each other."

After going to Florida the year before, this spring break trip featured more matches and more immersion in volleyball.

"It was basically (all) volleyball," Schuette said. "We had team conditioning on the beach, we practiced and played games. We only really relaxed at night."

Senior outside hitter Derrick Norris said the Blue Devils earned a lot of respect at the tournament in California.

"When we walked in, nobody knew us," he said. "We were the big underdogs and it was great to surprise them. After games, a lot of the parents came up to us and asked where we were from."

The Blue Devils' play is starting to generate a buzz around school.

"When they said on the announcements that we won the Lake County Invite and what our record was, people were (impressed)," Norris said. "It's nice that we're getting noticed, and people are really going to start coming out and supporting us."