Naperville North starts to believe
After defeating defending state champion Wheaton Warrenville South in three games at home on Thursday, the Naperville North Huskies believe they are now capable of beating anyone.
That's how the first victory in four tries over a juggernaut like the Tigers feels to a team that is just starting to believe in itself.
The Huskies withstood everything the Tigers threw at them and came away with a 25-21, 18-25, 26-24 win to go to 19-7 overall and 8-2 in the DuPage Valley Conference.
"I've thought for a long time that we can play with anybody," said Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin. "Now the kids are starting to believe it."
"This is the best we played in a couple of years," said senior outside hitter Sam Wilson. "We were doing what we were supposed to be doing. Everything was consistent against one of the best teams in the state. The passing was perfect. Our libero, Danny Boryca was getting everything back up and he was keeping everyone motivated when Wheaton would make a run."
Outside hitter Shane Witmer, who had a game-high 19 kills, talked about the Huskies' strategy for the match.
"We just wanted to have high intensity," he said. "Put the ball away and if we put the ball way, go crazy. And we did that. We're coming on strong at the end of the year."
The Huskies rode their strong defense and capitalized on Tigers errors to win the first game 25-21.
But the Tigers have a habit of pulling it together after a Game 1 loss, and that's what they did when they took Game 2 by a score of 25-18.
The Huskies didn't back down. They led for a large portion of Game 3 before Wheaton Warrenville South (21-6, 9-1) took the lead again at 19-18 on an Eric Luhrsen kill.
The Huskies then tied it at 21-21 and fought through three more ties and escaped one match point before securing the victory.
"We served tough," Bornancin said. "We kept them out of system and we got touches on their attacks. Our defense kept us in it."
Bornancin had high praise for libero Boryca, who had 21 digs in the match.
"He was unbelievable, coming up with 21 digs against one of the top teams in the state," Bornancin said. "It has to be frustrating for the other team because he's getting the ball up every time so we can run our offense. He's one of the best liberos in the state."
John Burkhart had 8 kills and Wilson 7 in a balanced Huskies attack, and middle hitter Roy Birtcher had 5 blocks and Ryan Loughlin chipped in 2 blocks and 3 kills. Steve Massoni had 32 assists.
"Everybody was doing something," Wilson said. "Our setter was digging balls, the blocking and hitting were amazing. This is an awesome feeling."
Luhrsen led the Tigers with 15 kills and 7 digs, and sophomore middle hitter Matt Nussbaum had his second great match in a row with 8 kills and 4 blocks. David Priest was the dig leader with 15.
"Naperville North is a good team and they know they're a good team," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier. "They played great defense the whole match. They were able to dig a lot of balls and keep us in rallies, which was very important. We had a lot of unforced errors and that's something we'll have to clear up in the next few days. We're still in good shape as far as conference is concerned."