Boys volleyball: West Aurora garners tournament championship
High risk, high reward.
West Aurora boys volleyball coach Tolis Koskinaris is a firm believer in go-for-it-all type of serving.
That mentality helped pay dividends during West Aurora's come-from-behind, 23-25, 25-17, 25-15 title victory over Glenbard North (5-1) in the Blackhawks' annual tournament Saturday in Aurora.
Led by 6-foot-3 senior setter Tommy Garcia's 5 service aces and 25 assists, and 6-foot-8 senior outside hitter Thomas Kovanic's match-high 13 kills, the Blackhawks (5-1) repeated as tournament champions for the first time since 2011 and 2012.
"Tommy did a great job leading us back in the second set of the championship match," said Koskinaris said of Garcia.
Garcia also provided a big lift in the decisive third set, recording a block and an ace as the Blackhawks grabbed a 19-11 lead.
After the Panthers pulled within 22-15 on a Blackhawks service error, the home team finally put the match away with 3 straight points that included a kill and an ace from senior Vinnie Mannella.
"That's the way we play," said Koskinaris. "We serve hyper aggressively for this level of play. If they go in, we're very, very tough to beat. If they don't, you've got a chance."
Earlier in the day, the Blackhawks survived a hard-fought, 26-28, 25-19, 25-20 semifinal triumph over St. Charles North.
Led by junior outside hitters Brendan Dal Degan (11 kills) and Kyle Donlevy (9 kills), the North Stars pulled out the first set.
After a hitting error gave the Blackhawks their first lead of the set at 26-25, the North Stars responded with a 3-0 run fueled by Danny Throop's block and kill.
From there, the Loyola-bound Kovanic seized control.
Kovanic recorded 10 of his match-high 20 kills in the final two sets as the Blackhawks earned a spot in the Gold bracket championship match.
"How we played is kind of not as well as we'd like to play," said Kovanic. "As the season goes on, I'm sure we'll get better. It's a good starting point to see how we do in tight situations. The fact that we were able to fight through shows a lot."
Junior middle hitter Michael Walker added 8 kills for the Blackhawks in the semifinal match.
"That seems to be our M.O. right now," Koskinaris said of his team losing the opening set in both the semifinal and title matches.
Glenbard North, which downed Oswego East 25-23, 25-20 in the semifinals, received a 14-kill effort from outside hitter Eric Tripp against West Aurora. Setter Trent Weber provided 21 assists and a pair of kills, while Ravi Patel and Raj Dave added 3 and 2 kills, respectively.
"West Aurora is a great team," said Panthers coach Deb DiBenedetto. "It's just disappointing that we kind of fell apart - no discredit to them.
"We missed a lot of key serves right after either a timeout or a run. We need to capitalize on that and finish - and we didn't."
St. Charles North earned a third-place Gold bracket finish with a 25-15, 25-14 win over Oswego East.
Waubonsie Valley claimed the Bronze bracket championship with a 23-25, 27-25, 27-25 victory over Schaumburg. Geneva took third in the same division, beating Joliet Central 25-21, 25-17.