Weekend success carries over for Neuqua Valley
Neuqua Valley's resounding 25-18, 25-13 victory over visiting Prospect on Monday had its roots in the team's successful performance at the Benet Invitational last weekend.
"We learned a lot about ourselves at the Benet tournament last Friday and Saturday," said Jon Storm, who led the Wildcats with 8 kills and added 2 blocks.
"We saw how well we can play together and how much we stepped it up from where we used to be. We had a lot of intensity. If we keep that up we can be pretty good going into the regionals."
"The tournament over the weekend built some momentum for us," said setter Alex Blackwell. "We had a great first day and then we lost to St. Francis. But then we came back and beat Glenbard West for third place."
After falling behind 13-7 in Game 1 against Prospect, the Wildcats (21-9) took over and controlled every aspect of the match, outscoring the visitors 43-18 the rest of the way behind excellent blocking and defense and smart hitting that often found the holes in the Knights' armor.
Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza was impressed by the Wildcats' performance.
"We did a great job on the block," said Mendoza. "At time, when they got a shot through our block, there was usually someone there to dig the balls so we could play it back. Andthen we made the transition from defense. Jon and Conner Dart did a great job of placing their shots. I liked our team's demeanor on the court, which is something we've been working on."
After the Wildcats overtook the Knights at 15-14 in the first game on a Storm block, the lead went back and forth for several points and Prospect was ahead 18-17.
Then came a sideout and with Johnathan Rychly at the service line, the Wildcats reeled off 7 more points to end the game.
Game 2 was all Neuqua Valley as the Wildcats jumped out to a 10-3 lead and never looked back.
And Neuequa again ended the game with an 8-1 run with Zach Gilligan doing the serving for most of it.
Neuqua got superb contributions from everyone including Gilligan with 22 digs and Dart with 16 digs and 4 kills.
Chris Hornacek had 3 blocks and Tanner McKeown had 2, while Rychly hit 5 dramatic kills from the right side.
Blackwell, the team's on-court leader set for 17 assists and came up with 9 digs of his own.
"Blackwell is one of the smartest setters in the state," said Storm. "He's putting the ball right there for the hit. If our passing is off and we can't get him the all, we suffer. He's always finding the hot hand. And Rychly always finds the spot and can put it away, while Hornacek does a great job of making sure our hitters are all lined up against one block."
Jake Suckow had 4 kills and 3 blocks for the Knights, and Pat Atwood scored on 4 kills.
"After we started the game strong, Neuqua came out of its shell and started playing great ball," said Prospect coach Mike Riedy. "They started blocking everyone on our attacks and we did nothing to adjust. We should have been working around that big block and finding the holes where they weren't. But it just wasn't happening. They played great ball and our kids just shut down after the first 13 points."