Glenbard West picks up the pace
There is a bit of a trend developing for the Glenbard West boys’ volleyball team.
Start slow, then gain momentum before finishing off in a dominant fashion. That formula produced another win, as the Hilltoppers defeated Lyons Twp. 22-25, 25-18, 25-7 Tuesday night in a West Suburban Silver clash in Glen Ellyn.
Coming off a strong showing at the Brother Rice Invitational, which included a victory over the third-ranked team in the state, Lincoln-Way East, Glenbard West (15-3, 3-0) started this match like it did much of that tournament; sluggish and tentative.
Lyons Twp. (9-8, 1-2) came out aggressive, especially at the net in the first game as it pulled out a 25-22 seesaw victory. Leading the charge for the Lions was Mark Hogan, Jack O’Malley and Jason Dolinski, whose net presence controlled Game 1.
“We started out slow at the net and weren’t reading well, but as the game went on we did a really good job of getting touches on the middle block and that freed us up to get some stuff blocks on the outside,” Glenbard West senior middle hitter Adam Lepold said.
After losing the first game the Hilltoppers picked their game up and never trailed again as they sharpened every aspect of their game.
“It’s funny, we had a really good weekend, but the kids came in yesterday a little flat,” Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta Mayer said. “We have ACT testing all week, and it was a little hard to motivate them for today. We got off to a slow start, but it wasn’t surprising after coming off a sluggish practice, but this team is really good at making adjustments and they’re very calm. I’m probably the one who gets the most rattled, but we have really worked hard on every function of the game.”
As the tides started to turn in game two, Lyons Twp. coach Joann Pyritz could feel the match getting away.
“For the first game and a half we looked like a good team, but we started to lose momentum in the second game and Glenbard West turned it on. In the third game we came out flat, and it’s awfully tough to comeback from a big-point deficit. We didn’t show a lot of confidence, but Glenbard West did, so it’s a credit to them.”
In Game 3 the Hilltoppers came out with an overriding attack as they went up 10-0 behind the crushing serves of Kevin McGinnis, effectively ending the game and the match for Glenbard West.
“That was one of my better serving days,” McGinnis said. “We had a really good block up front which helped my run, and we had some nice digs also. We had to come out strong and I had to make sure my serves were in but still aggressive.”
The propensity for starting slow was not lost on McGinnis, and neither was the ability to storm back after an early deficit.
“As a team we need to work on getting a stronger start, but when we start to show our potential, it’s hard to stop us.”