Neuqua beats Waubonsie for 3-way tie in UEC

The last thing archrivals want to do is share something.

But that's exactly what District 204 foes Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley boys volleyball teams are doing, sharing the Upstate Eight Conference championship.

The Wildcats topped the host Warriors on Tuesday in a thrilling match 21-25, 25-23, 25-22 to give both teams a 9-1 conference record and a share of the UEC crown.

And with a conference-season-closing victory Tuesday, Lake Park made it a three-way tie for the UEC title.

"We'd like to have it to ourselves," said Neuqua Valley senior Johnathan Rychly. "But it's great we got part of it."

"District 204 has co-champions in boys volleyball for the first time," said Waubonsie coach Al Lagger. "We had our three toughest teams at the end, and we beat St. Charles North and Lake Park and then lost today. I'll take that two out of three every time. We gave it our best shot and both teams should be proud."

Waubonsie Valley (19-9) began the evening as though it was going to win the trophy outright as the Warriors held on to win a Game 1 that was close from beginning to end.

"In the first game our passing was a little inconsistent," said Jon Storm, who led Neuqua Valley with a match-high 16 kills.

"They served aggressively and got us a little off our passing game," Rychly said.

In Game 2 the Wildcats built a 15-10 lead only to see it evaporate with freshman setter Luke Furman at the service line for the Warriors.

With Furman's aggressive serves, one of which resulted in an ace, and Robert Wieland and John Ghassan doing the damage at the net, the Warriors took the lead at 17-16 and built it to 22-19.

But then a pair of blocks by Chris Hornacek swung the momentum back to the Wildcats 22-21, and they capitalized on a trio of Waubonsie errors to tie the match at one-game apiece.

Game 3 was even at 8-8 when Neuqua took the lead on a Conner Dart kill and never gave it back.

Waubonsie managed to close the gap to 22-21, but the Wildcats (26-9) got another big block from Dart and Tanner McKeown and a kill by Dart to close it out.

Rychly had 7 kills for the Wildcats and Dart had 6. Setter Alex Blackwell dealt 30 assists and came up with 18 digs, and Zach Gilligan was the dig leader with 19.

"Tonight's match was like every other match we've had with Waubonsie," said Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza. "You always get more amped up for a game with your sister school. The one thing that made a difference in Games 2 and 3 was defense. We were able to get touches on some of their guys and got a chance to play the ball back. Waubonsie is an excellent team. They have good length and strong hitters."

Lagger agreed that the Wildcats' defense made the difference in the result.

"They executed in the second and third games," he said. "They put the ball in play and waited for us to make mistakes."

Wieland led the Warriors with 11 kills and Ghassan had 5 kills and 3 blocks. Simon Yang led with 12 digs and Furman had 15 service points.