WW South gets off to rocky start at Tiger Classic
Bill Schreier is used to this, his Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers aren’t — yet.
Because the Tigers usually seem to finish their season each year in the state boys volleyball championship match, they get special treatment from every opponent, and Thursday’s opening matches at the Tiger Classic were no different.
After losing their opening match in three games to Lincoln-Way East, the Tigers rebounded to defeat DuPage Valley Conference rival Naperville Central in two games, but not before the Redhawks made things interesting for a while.
“It’s one of those things that we have to learn that other teams are going to come in and play as hard as they can against us because of it being us,” said Schreier, whose team placed second in Illinois in 2010 after three straight championships. “It’s a learning experience we have to go through every single year as far as our team is concerned. It’s just part and parcel of what we’re up against right now.
“We got slapped in the face a little bit in the first match in pool play and were feeling a little sorry for ourselves instead of going out there and playing. I think that you saw a little better effort Game 2.”
The Tigers (6-2) defeated the Redhawks 25-21, 25-14 after losing 25-17, 14-25, 25-17 to Lincoln-Way East.
“We’ll watch this match and we’ll see that Lincoln-Way doesn’t have near the energy they had, near the shots they had,” the Tigers’ Thomas Jaeschke said as Lincoln-Way East warmed up to face Naperville Central in the evening’s finale. “It’s everyone’s state championship. Like coach always says, they just won state for them. It’s a different ballgame when they’re playing us.”
Naperville Central led early in Game 1, but the Tigers caught up at 7-7, then took the lead for good at 18-17, pulling away for the victory.
Game 2 was all WW South, which led from start to finish.
“It’s ultimately good for the team, because when we get down to the last seven matches of the year, we know how teams are going to play,” Jaeschke said.
“We’ll take our struggles now. Hopefully, we’ll get in the right direction by the end,” Schreier added.
Jaeschke had 7 kills, 1 block, 5 digs and 3 aces. Eric Luhrsen added 7 kills and a block, Matt Nussbaum had 5 kills and 3 blocks and David Priest had 20 assists for the Tigers.
Sarvesh Somisetty led the Redhawks with 7 kills, Nirmal Desai had 10 digs, Connor Cunningham 4 kills and Albert Lei 21 assists.
“I thought our passing was much stronger the first game than it was the second,” said first-year Redhawks coach Jeff Danbom. “Our communication really broke down. Wheaton South did a really nice job of terminating. Priest distributed the ball very well throughout the match.”
The Redhawks (3-5) fell to Lincoln-Way East 25-18, 28-26.