Naperville Central all fired up for win over Naperville North
In most of its losses this season, the Naperville Central volleyball team hasn't had much intensity.
That wasn't the problem on Thursday as the Redhawks rallied from a 25-17 first-game loss to defeat arch-rival Naperville North 17-25, 25-16, 26-24.
"I asked the seniors for some leadership tonight and they responded," said Naperville Central coach Bryan Johnwick.
Among those who stepped up were outside hitters Alex Provejsil who led with 10 kills and Alex Whipple who had 7, and middle hitters Ryan Thill with 3 kills and 3 blocks and Matt Neufeld who had 6 kills - three in crunch-time, including one for match-point.
Provejsil played as if he was solely in charge of the team's intensity.
"Alex is a two-year starter who's stepping up and being the vocal leader on the court," Johnwick said. "And the other boys are responding to it."
The Redhawks (8-7, 2-2) made numerous errors in losing Game 1 but settled down after that.
"We needed to just keep the ball in play," Johnwick said. "In Game 1 we weren't serving aggressively enough and they were able to run their system. They stopped us at the net. After that we were able to take the middles out of serve-receive. That was a great turn-around after the first game. We've focused on passing and that was consistent the whole night."
The Huskies controlled the first game from beginning to end, with leads of 5 points and fewer until the 14th point and then they opened it up behind the hitting of Sam Wilson and won by 8 points.
Game 2, which was much closer early, featured 7 ties until the Redhawks grabbed the lead permanently at 13-12.
The widest margin in Game 3 came when an Alex Grask kill gave the Redhawks a 16-12 lead.
But the Huskies tied it at 16-16 and the teams stayed close until the Huskies (9-6, 2-2) went on a 4-point run, including a pair of blocks by Ray Birtcher, to go ahead 22-19.
A kill by Povejsil and a service ace by Thill brought the Redhawks to within a point, and then Neufeld led them to the finish line.
"Our setter, Albert Lei, put the ball right where I wanted it," Neufeld said. "All I had to do was swing."
Lei finished with 24 assists.
"Tonight was another example of how records don't matter when Naperville North and Naperville Central face each other in any sport," said Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin. "Bryan really got his guys to play. They made errors early and battled through them. Unfortunately, we made our errors at the end of the match, which we've been doing all year in tight matches."
Shane Witmer had 9 kills and 7 digs for the Huskies and Wilson smashed 9 kills. Mike Hochstetter shared the dig lead with 7.
And middle hitter Ray Birtcher had 8 blocks in what Bornancin called "his best match of the year."
"He really came to play," Bornancin said. "Defensively, he was huge and it was great to see. Overall, I was happy with our blocking and defense tonight. We just made some bad decisions in setting and hitting."