Naperville North finally runs into playoff road block
The Naperville North boys volleyball team’s long run of late-season success finally hit a roadblock in the finals of the state tournament Saturday.
After putting together a phenomenal six-victory streak in the playoffs, with many of the wins coming against top-ranked teams, the Huskies were routed 25-15, 25-16 by Sandburg in the state final match.
“They just played fantastic,” said Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin of Sandburg. “They served so well and we just couldn’t keep up. Even when we’d get a big kill, they’d come back and stop us the next time. Our serve-receive just wasn’t there today.”
“You have to give it up for Sandburg,” said Shane Witmer, Naperville North’s all-state outside hitter. “In both games we were even with them at the beginning and they went on a couple of runs and we couldn’t respond. They were blocking, passing and hitting. It was frustrating that we didn’t play our best. I was hoping we could get something going, but it just didn’t happen.”
Sandburg (34-3) had beaten Glenbard West 25-19, 25-23 in the semifinals earlier in the day.
The Hilltoppers (29-8) finished fourth at state after losing a three-set match to Vernon Hills in the third-place contest.
In Game 1 of the finals , the Eagles led 9-8 and everything still looked possible for Naperville North (30-8).
But an 11-1 Sandburg run soon put the game out of reach.
In Game 2 the Eagles went ahead at 3-2 and just kept inching further and further ahead throughout the game.
“That was probably the best match we played all year,” said Bill Siroky of Sandburg. “We were just unstoppable today.”
“Our team got their serves in and limited their errors,” said Sandburg coach Sean Airola. “We took them out of serve-receive. Our seniors really stepped up tonight.”
Andrew Muys led the Eagles with 8 kills and 5 digs. Siroky added 7 kills and 3 blocks, and Kevin Groeper had 6 kills and 8 digs. Setter Scott Fifer dished out 26 assists.
For Naperville North, Witmer led with 6 kills and 5 digs and Danny Boryca was the dig leader with 10.
“Our serve-receive was off all weekend,” Bornancin said. “But you’re in big trouble when that happens against a team the caliber of Sandburg. You’re out of system, stuck on your pins and you can’t run any first or second tempo balls. They were getting a lot of touches on our swings. We struggled.”
Bornancin did express his pride in the Huskies players who put in a strong late-season charge that included victories over the top three seeds in the IMSA sectional, including the team they beat in the sectional final, top-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South. The Huskies then topped Oak Park-River Forest and Vernon Hills in the state tournament this weekend.
“Looking back, what we had to do to get here was more than a lot of teams had to do,” Bornancin said. “In our sectional alone there were five teams seeded ahead of us who could have gone downstate, including Wheaton Warrenville South, who is the No. 5-ranked team in the country.
“We earned those second-place medals. The kids got hot right when they needed to at the end of the season.”