St. Charles North rallies past Leyden

It's only the first game of the season, but St. Charles North's boys volleyball team gave a good glimpse of what their fans can expect under first-year coach Todd Weimer.

The North Stars are going to scrap for every point.

They are going to block and dig and not give an inch.

And they aren't going to quit when the going gets tough.

St. Charles North rallied for a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 victory over Leyden Wednesday night in St. Charles, winning a match that for the first half Leyden was in complete control.

Leyden junior George Boykov fired two early aces off his jump serve. The North Stars trailed throughout the Game 1 loss and were down 11-5 in Game 2 before finally settling down.

"First game of the season jitters for sure," North Stars senior captain setter Pat Sullivan said. "Our passing started of shaky but I thought once we got it under control the second game we started getting pumped up and more excited and the jitters went away and we started playing more like we can."

Boykov had 4 aces and 5 kills in Game 1. The North Stars did a better job on Leyden's star the rest of the match.

"You don't see serves like that all the time," Sullivan said. "We did key on him and started adjusting our passing."

"We rode George in the beginning, but when George isn't doing things the others can't stand around and watch," Leyden coach Dave Sebald said. "We have to be able to play and do the right thing."

An ace by Branden Hoerner pulled the North Stars even at 14-14 in Game 2. That started a back-and-forth battle to the finish line with 8 ties and 7 lead changes down the stretch.

Leyden (0-1) looked like it might end the match in two games when Julian Moreno put away Agustin Trujillo's set for a 23-22 lead.

But two Leyden mistakes gave the North Stars game point, and Hoerner's block forced the deciding third game.

The block was a fitting way for the North Stars to end a second game that they were much more aggressive at the net.

"We played our game the second and third games," Weimer said. "We weren't getting a lot of touches (in Game 1). We blocked a lot of balls the second and third game."

The North Stars (1-0) never trailed in Game 3. The match ended on a Leyden error, one of 8 in the third game.

"We gave the momentum away in the middle of the second game," Sebald said. "When we got to the third game we got a little frustrated with each other. We pressed. We did things we shouldn't be doing."

St. Charles North displayed a balanced attack. Ryan Staudacher had 6 kills, Jeff Beach 4 blocks and 5 kills and Sullivan 3 blocks. Kevin Rose led in digs with 10.

"The first game of the season, you aren't sure how things are going to go," Weimer said. "The effort going after balls was pretty good. It was nice to get a win the first game of the season but the guys know we have a lot of work to do."

Leyden, 21-17 last year, gets back to work this weekend with 5 games at Hoffman Estates, starting with Oak Park.

"Kids are working hard," Sebald said. "We have some spots to fill from last year. We were pleased with the majority of the match. There's a few things we need to clean up."