WW South stays undefeated
After suffering just a touch of Senior Night-itis the Wheaton Warrenville South volleyball team made things right quickly and maintained its undefeated record against visiting DuPage Valley Conference rival Glenbard East.
After the Senior Night celebration that honored the Tigers’ 12 seniors and their parents, the Rams started Game 1 with a 5-0 lead.
However, the Tigers soon recovered to win 25-21, 25-17 to run its season record to 34-0 and its conference mark to 13-0 just one week before the playoffs begin.
“We started off slowly,” said Wheaton Warrenville South’s Thomas Jaeschke, who led everybody with 14 kills. “There’s no excuse for that, but we showed we can come together as a team. There’s no team I’ve been on that does that as well as this team. We showed that we can be pushed like that and still come together.”
“This team doesn’t get rattled,” said Tigers coach Bill Schreier. “We went down 5-0 and then outscored them 50-33. Once our team got in rhythm, they stayed in system and didn’t give up on balls. When they weren’t in system we did a good job of getting back in system.”
After going down 5-0 the Tigers caught up at 8-8 on a kill by Jaeschke and went ahead on a Glenbard East net violation. The Tigers led the rest of the game but never by more than five points..
In Game 2 the Tigers went up 3-0 early and never gave up the lead though the Rams stayed close throughout.
With setter Kit Bruzek dealing 26 assists to a variety of dynamic hitters, the Tigers stayed in control the rest of the evening. The varied attack included 6 kills by Matt Callaway and four each by Nick Smith and Tim Zybert. Dan Eastman led with 7 digs.
It was the fourth time the Tigers defeated Glenbard East (28-6, 10-3) this season.
“We played well tonight,” said Glenbard East coach Marci Maier. “Every time we meet them they bring their ‘A’ game and, hopefully we do too. We played point-for-point in Game 1 and let them get a stretch in Game 2. But I liked our demeanor on the court. We weren’t flustered.
“Our emotional side of the game is much stronger now. But Wheaton South is a good experienced team and a very determined group”
Maier sees a match against the Tigers as the perfect tuneup as the playoffs near.
“You can’t get this level of intensity in practice,” Maier said. “We came here to see where we are and to get ready for playoffs. Hopefully, we’ll play well enough in the playoffs to meet them again in the sectional final with the chance to go to state.”
Wheaton Warrenville South hosts the sectional this year.
The Rams were led by Joe Farrell with 9 kills, while Matt Finder was the dig leader with 8.