Waubonsie Valley takes momentum, match against Elgin

Oh no, not again.

That may have been what was going through the minds of the Elgin Maroons after Upstate Eight Conference leader Waubonsie Valley went on an 8-2 run to close out Game 1 Monday night after winless Elgin had battled to a 17-17 tie. After all, the snake-bitten Maroons (0-16, 0-5) have played their share of tight games this season, they just haven't been able to convert strong stretches of play into match victories.

And sure enough, the host Warriors, after surviving a sluggish start which included too many missed serves and some attacks right into the Maroon block, rebounded to take the second game going away 25-12 to complete the sweep.

"We can't finish. We can hang with the best teams in Game 1, but when we lose it toward the end of Game 1 it carries into Game 2," Elgin coach Keith Foster said. "It's swings of momentum. It beats us up all year long."

Waubonsie Valley (14-5, 5-0) also did have a big say in how Monday's match played out. The first-place Warriors missed 5 serves even while taking a 17-15 lead in the opener. But the Maroons drew even with a kill from Ivan Ceballos and an error by the hosts, which forced coach Al Lagger to call a timeout.

Following the timeout, Elgin had two hitting errors and then senior setter Erik Johnson hooked up with Jordan James for back-to-back kills. The score was 21-17 and moments later a powerful attack by Chris Macfadyen closed out the game and set the stage for a Warriors sweep.

"I felt like our passing really improved and we were able to start running our offense," said James, explaining what happened after the timeout. "Our right side is definitely a strong point, but we were getting other people involved and that opened things up for us."

James, a 6-foot-6 junior, finished with a match-high 10 kills and 4 digs, while Russell Penicook had 7 kills and Selby Wilson 5 for the Warriors.

"Maybe some of our guys expected Elgin to lay down and play dead," Lagger said. "I told the kids to be ready to play, to respect everyone and fear no one."

Ceballos, Jon Garcia and T.J. Bruessard each had 3 kills for the Maroons, who have been playing better volleyball of late, even if their record would not indicate such.

"We've had seven Games 3s and we could be close to .500 but we're not," Foster said. "I have no excuses. We just haven't finished."

But there are some good signs. "They're playing better," Foster said. "Unfortunately we're in a tough stretch of the schedule. We're progressing but we're not seeing any W's."