Vernon Hills to critics: We've got a plan

With each irretrievable volleyball that Vernon Hills zings across the net, the Cougars deliver a message, as well.

As evident by its winning streak, which stretched to 20 matches thanks to a 31-29, 27-25 victory over host Stevenson on Wednesday night, yes, Vernon Hills is good.

And, yes, the Cougars get the message from their critics, thanks to online volleyball message boards.

"We're getting some grief for our schedule, and that's fine," coach Chris Curry said after his Cougars improved to 20-1 overall and 7-0 in the North Suburban Conference. "The North Suburban we don't schedule, and a lot of our tougher matches are at the end of the year. Our tournaments are designed to build, build, build all throughout the year.

"We got a plan, and these kids understand the plan."

So, while the Cougars keep working and sweating, they aren't sweating their critics.

"We think it's funny," senior middle/outside Pat Stone said. "They're all serious on the message boards."

In order to outlast Stevenson (13-10, 3-3), Vernon Hills had to be dead serious the entire match, as 25 points weren't enough to win either game.

The Cougars needed and got big efforts upfront from Stone (10 kills, 3 blocks), Thomas Robinson (9 kills), Garrett Kubacki (6 kills) and Mike Robinson (5 kills). Spencer Raak raked (15 digs), and Justin Opitz (68-of-68 setting, 25 assists) earned Curry's praise for making adjustments during the match to set up hitters away from Stevenson's tower of power, Nik Antonijevic.

"This kid," Curry said as the 6-foot-8 Antonijevic walked past him after the match. "Holy cow, he killed us."

Antonijevic rifled 6 kills, tying John Baader for the team lead, and also had 2 solo and 2 assisted blocks.

"He's a big man," Baader said with a laugh of his teammate. "I'm glad I have him on my team. He can hit over that block and get it inside that back line. It just takes the wind out of a team's sails. It's demoralizing to have somebody hit over you."

Stevenson, which also got 5 kills from Danny Gescheidle and 11 digs from Darien Wu, gave Vernon Hills all it could handle. In Game 2, the Patriots erased a 15-9 deficit and later led 24-23, before a kill by Thomas Robinson pulled the visitors even.

"We played well," Stevenson coach Tim Crow said. "We weren't serving aggressively enough, and that's one of the weaknesses of our team."

Stone, for one, wasn't surprised with the effort from the home squad.

"Stevenson's a good program and they come at us every year ready to play," Stone said. "This year was no exception."

"(Tuesday) at practice we talked about keeping momentum," said Baader, who also had 10 digs. "Coming here and playing such an exciting game, I think we really followed what we said we would do. We really kept our intensity up. Vernon Hills played great. They have some great hitters in the middle, right side and outside."

Vernon Hills gets another chance to quiet its critics this weekend, when it competes in the Glenbrook North tournament. Besides the host school, the field also includes York, Carmel, Barrington and Oak Park. Next Tuesday, Vernon Hills and 24-2 Mundelein meet in a first-place showdown.

"We're just taking care of our business and trying to get better every day," said Curry, whose Cougars haven't lost since a three-game match to Loyola in their season opener. "The team had two goals at the beginning of the year. It wasn't win a tournament, and do this or that. It was have fun and get better every day."