WW South stays perfect in DVC
It was a clash of conference unbeatens in Lombard as Wheaton Warrenville South tangled with Glenbard East with first place in the DuPage Valley Conference on the line in boys volleyball Thursday night.
The Tigers used a fast start and an ability to pull away in both games to claim a 25-17, 25-16 victory over the Rams.
Wheaton Warrenville South (17-0, 6-0) came out of the gates fast, as they jumped all over the Rams en route to an early 8-3 lead.
“The big thing on the road is to try and control the match by getting off to a fast start and put them on their heels,” WW South coach Bill Schreier said. “The kids did a good job with that and executing what we wanted to do and what we wanted to take advantage of.”
Glenbard East (14-3, 5-1) did not go away in the first game but was not able to trim the deficit to less than three as the Tigers went on a five-point run to claim the first game.
The Rams got off to a much better start in game two, as each team traded blows leading to an 8-8 tie. The Tigers then went on another late-game run as they took a 12-8 lead, which led to a Glenbard East timeout.
The timeout could not stem the tide as WW South took a commanding 20-11 advantage shortly after the timeout and never looked back as they finished off the Rams 25-16 to claim the match.
The Tigers’ net presence gave Glenbard East fits all match, as seniors Tim Zyburt and Thomas Jaeschke kept pressure on the Rams all evening.
Zyburt led the way with 9 kills, 3 blocks and 3 digs, while Jaeschke added 7 kills and 5 digs.
“Tim brings one of the best blocks on the team, and he had a great offensive game too,” WW South setter Kit Bruzek said.
“We made one minor adjustment with Tim and he had 3 blocks almost in a row,” Schreier said. “Glenbard East is a good team, they rallied and got back into it, but we knew we were going to have another run in us to pull away.”
For Glenbard East there were positives to take away from the loss to the litmus test of perennial power WW South.
“Now we know what to do, the little things we need to work on to win the big games,” Glenbard East senior Tim Shenkin said. “We came out with a lot of energy and it was a good experience to learn, especially for our young guys like Joe Farrell, who had some great hits.”
WW South now controls its own destiny as they cleared one of the team’s first major hurdles.
“We came out fundamentally sound in the first game, then stayed composed and didn’t let the pressure get to us in the second game,” said Bruzek, who collected 24 assists. “It was a great win for us, but we have to stay where we are and keep it up until June 2.”