WW South stays on track for title
One key to the success of the Wheaton Warrenville South volleyball attack is that the kill can come from any one of the six players on the floor.
On Friday it was senior outside hitter Kevin Mueller leading the way as the Tigers stayed on track for their third straight state championship by ending Neuqua Valley's season 25-16, 25-22 in their quarterfinal match at Hoffman Estates High School.
Mueller had 12 kills, 2 aces and 2 blocks,as the Tigers (36-4) kept the Wildcats (35-4) out of system for much of the match to move on to Saturday's semifinals against St. Patrick, which defeated Morton in three sets.
Buffalo Grove will face Maine South in the other semifinal.
"Every time Kevin transitions and hits his mark he knows he's got a pretty good shot," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier. "He leaps well. He's got good contact and he makes good decisions when he's up in the air."
"We have so many options," Mueller said. "Everyone has a different day. Today it was mine. It will be someone else's day tomorrow."
The Tigers took away the Wildcats' passing game with aggressive serving as they jumped out to an 8-4 lead in Game 1.
A 4-point run by the by the Wildcats with kills by Rob Bauer, Andrew Stirk and Alex Onsager tied it at 8-8, but that would be the highlight of Game 1 for the Naperville squad as the Tigers took the lead on a Mueller kill down the line and stayed in front the rest of the way.
A string of kills by Wheaton big guys Neill Nystrom and Rob Samp extended the lead to 15-11 and seemed to take some of the air out of the Wildcats' balloon.
"When the lead hits four or five after the game is half-over, you start to lose confidence in your team's ability to get back into it," Nystrom said.
After that most of the Wheaton points came on a series of uncharacteristic errors by Neuqua.
The Wildcats mounted a challenge in Game 2, fighting back to an early lead and 8 ties, and at the end the game victory was in sight as Neuqua passed the Tigers at 22-21.
But the defending champs shut the door as kills by Samp, Neal Whittington and Mueller put an end to the Wildcats' season.
"We did not pass well and that's what killed us," said Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza. "One good pass and we would have had a 2-point lead with 2 points to go. Instead, we made 3 bad passes in a row. Give Wheaton credit. Those float serves are hard to pass and they all serve that way. And they're so tall that the ball is coming in at an even greater downward angle."
Behind Mueller, the Tigers' kill numbers were evenly distributed among Nystrom with 5 and Samp, Eric Luhrsen and Whittington with 4 apiece. Setter Joe Kelly, the captain of The Daily Herald All-Area team, donated 25 assists to the cause.
"The variety in our attack makes it hard for teams to load up against us," Schreier said. "We love to have multiple options attacking the net every time."
Rob Bauer led the Wildcats with a game-high 14 kills and tied Kevin Begley for the team-lead in digs with 6.