Glenbard East crisp against Redhawks

Glenbard East boys volleyball coach Marci Maier emphasized just one word during her team's match against Naperville Central Tuesday night.

With the Rams holding a 12-9 advantage in Game 1, Maier told her team she wanted to see an improved level of crispness on the floor. Glenbard East responded by blitzing the Redhawks with a 13-5 closing run, pacing the visitors to a 25-14, 25-22 victory in Naperville.

"Our word for today was 'crisp,' " Maier said. "We needed to be a little bit sharper, and if we were a little sharper, the balls go where they need to and we end up coming out on top."

Sharper play for the Rams meant improving play around the net, where Glenbard East worked to establish a stronger defensive presence.

"Our block kind of took hold a little bit," Maier said. "Once we put up a big block, obviously that's a lot of energy, and we started to transition a little bit better offensively."

The Rams' serving added a lethal complement to their defense, as Glenbard East notched four aces during its 13-5 run. Senior setter Mark Jones accounted for three during the streak, and the Rams piled up 6 aces on the night.

"Serving is a strength. We pull a lot of teams out of system," Jones said. "We just get it in and let our defense do the job."

Glenbard East found itself in a tighter battle in Game 2, as the Redhawks grabbed a 20-19 lead and looked to push the match to three games. With a bit of a different lineup than Game 1, though, Glenbard East managed to steady its nerves and keep its record unblemished at 18-0 overall and 7-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference.

The late comeback orchestrated by Glenbard East's bench only improves its strength.

"It's important, because you just never know who's going to be the one to make a play at the end of a ballgame," Maier said. "You just never know when somebody is going to come in and have to step up."

Naperville Central (11-7, 3-4) shot itself in the foot late in Game 2, committing four unforced errors down the stretch to help the Rams' cause. With his mind focused on a postseason run, though, Redhawks coach Bryan Johnwick felt willing to tinker with his lineup against one of the state's top teams.

"We're just kind of tweaking our lineup every here and there, just trying to find where our players will be the most successful," Johnwick said.