Glenbard West pulls together against West Aurora
Team chemistry is usually a critical element for athletic success. Sometimes it takes a while to form during the season.
Wednesday's 25-11, 25-18 season-opening win by the Glenbard West boys volleyball team over visiting West Aurora showed that the Hilltoppers are ahead of schedule.
"We have kids from sophomores to seniors and we feel we are all on the same level," said Glenbard West senior team captain Ryan Condon. "We're not playing as one individual but as a team. That's a huge emphasis."
The Hilltoppers' first 25 points of the season were dominant ones. The team led by 13 twice in the last third of Game 1, including on Johnny Winkler's kill that made it 18-5.
The Blackhawks (0-1) pulled to within 19-9 with the help of two Glenbard West carries and a kill by Thomas Kovanic, who led his team with 4. Soon after Parker Swartz's kill put the Hilltoppers back up 22-9 and the team put the finishing touches on the Game 1 win.
West Aurora jumped out to a 3-1 lead in Game 1 with Tommy Garcia serving up an ace during that run. Condon would serve up the second of his two aces on the night to put Glenbard West back up 4-3.
A serve out of bounds by the Hilltoppers tied the game at 7. A kill by the Blackhawks' Nicholas Catania gave his team their final lead at 8-7. A West Aurora serve in the net made it 8-8 and then Glenbard West took it from there as it went on a 10-4 run to go up 18-12. West Aurora cut the lead to 20-16, but the Hilltoppers cruised to the Game 2 and match victory on a 5-2 run.
Kyler Kotsakis led Glenbard West with 7 kills and 1 ace. Jackson Nagle finished with 6 kills. Condon had 12 digs and Paulie Bischoff racked up 17 assists.
"Our energy was great. The serve receive was outstanding. Our passing was outstanding the entire match," said Hilltoppers coach Christine Giunta-Mayer. "We were getting sideouts right away and we were not giving them a chance to go on runs."
In addition to Kovanic's 4 kills, teammate Justin Reynolds had 3 for West Aurora.
"We were more concerned with just playing good volleyball in the second game," said West Aurora coach Tolis Koskinaris. "We had foot faults, serving errors in Game 1. We were nervous.
"We're mostly sophomores and juniors and we expect to do well this season. We have high goals. The guys are beat up. We'll see how we rebound."
Glenbard West is back on its home court at 6 p.m. Thursday against Whitney Young. West Aurora hosts its own Blackhawk Invite on Saturday.