Boys volleyball: Stevenson's strong play continues in win over Hersey

Stevenson's boys volleyball match Monday night against visiting Hersey had the potential to be one of the most exciting games of the year.

And it lived up to the hype, at least through the late stages of set one.

Both teams played at a high level and battled back and forth through most of the first set. Then the Patriots shifted into another gear, and the Huskies couldn't catch up.

Stevenson won 25-21, 25-14.

"Our middles did a really nice job tonight of holding their blocks, and we did a nice job of blocking their quick sets on the outside," said Hersey coach Laura Gerber.

"Our right sides and our middles were doing a really good job of stopping that quick ball. Then we struggled a little bit on serve-receive, and I think that's where we got in to trouble."

The first set was tied at 21-21 before Stevenson rattled off 4 straight points, then took the momentum into the second set.

"We kind of discussed a little bit in the huddle tonight to be patient," said Patriots coach Eric Goolish. "We hadn't really seen Hersey play, and we wanted to get our transition game going."

"We got it going at the end of game one and that carried over into set two."

Stevenson came in to the nonconference contest in Lincolnshire with a 17-2 record, while Hersey sported an 11-2 mark.

Each team started out hot, with Hersey outside hitter Nate Meyer getting some well-timed kills early, then Sam Nuudel and Eric Hartman responding in kind for the Patriots.

Neither side trailed by more than 2 points through most of set one.

Hersey middle Alex Sulewski's spike gave the Huskies a 15-13 lead, but Stevenson fought back and a block by Sam Nuudel brought the score to 21-20 Patriots.

After a sideout, two Hersey errors followed to make it 23-21 Stevenson.

A great dig from Patriots senior libero Murad Shahzadah followed and led to a Christian Headley kill, then an ace from Shahzadah closed out set one.

"We made an error, we missed a serve, then all of a sudden something small changes the momentum," said Gerber.

Between games, Goolish said he talked to his squad about staying the course.

"I told the guys to build off the way they ended set one," said the coach. "They were patient, they didn't overreact, they didn't get nervous."

"It was a tight match, but that's OK for matches to be tight."

The Patriots charged out of the gate in the deciding set, and when a dig from Daniel Nuudel set up Headley for a kill, the home team led 10-5.

They quickly extended the advantage to 20-10 on a block kill from senior opposite Karl Lutz, and closed out the match they way the ended set one - with an ace, this time by Lutz.

"This was a learning experience for our guys," said Gerber. "We hadn't really played a super tough team yet like Stevenson, and we're going to learn from this and move forward."

Lutz led the winners with 6 kills; Shahzadah had 6 digs.

Sam Nuudel, a junior, finished with 2 blocks while Daniel Nuudel, a senior, had 18 assists.

"Daniel did a great job of spreading the ball around tonight," said Goolish. "I would imagine that the attack was pretty evenly distributed between all the guys."

"I was very happy tonight with our execution, our service plan, getting touches on the blocks and the way we ran our transition offense."