St. Viator impresses in postseason debut
Sure, it may have come against a team with a depleted roster whose volleyball skills are obviously in the beginning stages.
But a win is still a win in the playoffs, and St. Viator looked mighty impressive in Monday’s regional quarterfinal victory at Cahill Gymnasium.
The Lions, led by 9 kills by senior opposite Jon Mayyou, allowed Sullivan only 2 offensive points in a 25-3, 25-3 triumph.
The Tigers dressed the minimum six players for the match.
“We started the season with 14 players,” said Sullivan coach Anna Noraitis, “but we’ve had attrition for various reasons. It’s been difficult to keep a full roster together.
“We’re a small school (on the North side of Chicago), and most of our guys play soccer, which is their primary sport. They’re just learning volleyball, but these six guys have been together all season. It was a lot of pressure to come here and play and I give our kids a lot of credit.”
All of the Viator (6-25) starters pitched in to the win and some bench players got some significant playing time as well.
Senior setter Patrick Ryan was 10-of-19 with 10 assists and 4 aces; Junior Lou Gumma served up 4 aces while senior Eric Ryan had 3; and junior TOm Aichele added 4 kills.
“We were able to run some plays tonight that we don’t normally run, and use some different rotations,” said 6-foot-3 Lions senior outside hitter David Kingsley, who contributed 6 kills and 2 blocks.
“We hadn’t seen Sullivan (6-6) play before tonight, but we went out and took this as just another game. Now we’ve got to come out and play hard in our next match and take it game-by-game.”
The Lions play today at 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals versus No. 4 seed Glenbrook South.
“Obviously, our next match will be completely different,” said Viator coach Chris Boylan. “Tonight, we were able to grab a little momentum. Our starters did what they’re supposed to do by keeping the ball in play, and we were communicating very well out there.
“Our record is not the greatest, but we’ve been in a lot of close matches. We’ve had a hard time finishing but tonight we came out and finished.”
Subs Ryan and Rob Smoczynski, both seniors, each added a kill in the victory.
“This was a lot of fun,” said Smoczynski, playing his first season of varsity volleyball. “It’s great getting a win in the playoffs.”