Boys volleyball: Hersey's show of strength sinks Wheeling
The Hersey boys volleyball team doesn't have many weaknesses.
When it comes right down to it, they may not have any.
With a different Huskie making big play after big play on seemingly every point, Hersey clinched at least a tie for the Mid-Suburban East on Tuesday with a 25-17, 25-22 win over visiting Wheeling.
"We're deep at every position," said right-side hitter Patrick O'Brien, one of the honorees on Huskies senior night. "We've had some guys out due to injury, and other players have done a great job in stepping up."
O'Brien, who will be attending Ohio State in the fall to study economics, said his team was ready for a Wheeling squad that had been on a roll coming into the contest.
"We knew they (the Wildcats) were out to get us," said O'Brien. "They had a big win last week over Buffalo Grove. They're a good, scrappy team."
Jake Mailloux led Hersey with 16 kills, while Michael Lechowicz had 8 kills for Wheeling (14-11, 5-3).
"We struggled getting in to a rhythm tonight," said Wildcats coach Jason Kopkowski, "but a lot of that was due to what they (Hersey) were throwing at us."
Two aces from Wheeling, one apiece by Sono Tsogtbaatar and Michael Best, paced the Wildcats to a 15-15 tie in the first set.
Then Mailloux's sixth kill of the set led Hersey on a 5-point run to help secure the game.
Set two was highlighted by an amazing dig/kill from Hersey libero Justin Hong. With Hersey down 1 late, Hong dove for a backhanded dig on a ball headed to the far corner of the court.
Hong had the strength to strike the ball hard enough to have it fly over the net, where it fell untouched and got the Huskies back even at 18-all.
"He was all over the court tonight, as usual," said Huskies coach Nancy Lill of Hong.
Wheeling recovered to take a 20-19 advantage but three late kills from Mailloux closed out the match.
Hong (34 digs, a possible Hersey single-game team record), setter Vince Reisel (24 assists), middle Adrian Holubek, middle Matt Hopkins, defensive specialist Christian Castro and team assistants Maggie Reisel and Colin Mallers were also senior night honorees.
Hersey improved to 24-2 on the year, 8-0 in the East, a record made even more remarkable considering that starters Hopkins and Castro have missed 13 straight matches.
"We've got great depth," said Lill. "Christian Hong has done a nice job of filling in for Christian Castro, and Adrian Holubek has been invaluable for us in the middle.
"I have to give a lot of credit to Wheeling tonight," added Lill. "They've improved so much since the last time we faced them, and they came in here on fire. They played great defense and I actually thought both teams were solid defensively."