Boys volleyball: Wheaton North stuns rival WW South

Aidan Syswerda admittedly felt the sting from Wheaton North’s 2-set boys volleyball loss to cross-town rival Wheaton Warrenville South in late April.

“We knew that wasn’t us,” said Syswerda.

The 6-foot-6 senior outside hitter recorded a match-high 23 kills and 3 digs to help lift the 2nd-seeded Falcons (34-3) to a 27-25, 24-26, 25-21 victory over the top-seeded Tigers (34-6) in Tuesday’s sectional championship at Larkin.

Capturing their first sectional title since 2000, the Falcons advance to Friday’s 11:30 a.m. Bolingbrook supersectional against Libertyville (31-3).

“It feels great to beat a team that kind of crushed us earlier in the season,” Syswerda said of his team’s 26-28, 12-25 setback at the hands of the Tigers on April 28. “We worked so hard this whole year and to see it all come together is pretty amazing.”

“Our mindset was to outlast them,” said Falcons coach John Noe IV. “They (Tigers) played a heck of a match and had a heck of a season. A lot of those guys have been on their team for several years.

“We knew tonight was going to be a battle. We just felt that losing to them early in the season propelled us to this night.”

Noe was hoping for another opportunity to face WWSouth.

“We knew if we kept winning and they kept winning, we’d get a second crack at them,” said the coach. “We didn’t want to waste that opportunity.”

Led by 6-4 senior outside hitter Simon Bratt, the Tigers jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the opening set, forcing Noe to burn a couple of timeouts.

“They definitely caught us still on the bus, still kind of getting warmed up,” said Noe.

Led by senior outside hitter Peter Dey (6 kills), middle blockers Alex Scribner (6 kills), Will Biagini (2 kills, 3 blocks), and Syswerda, the Falcons enjoyed an 18-5 run to take a 22-20 lead.

The Tigers wasted a pair of set-point chances – the last at 25-24 – before Syswerda recorded 3 straight kills to close out the opening-set comeback, the final one coming off an assist from junior setter Owen Hubner.

“It was definitely big,” said Hubner, whose dad, Tom, was the head coach during the Falcons’ state runner-up finish in 1996. “We really had to dig deep. We had to prove to ourselves that we could win this.”

Bratt and freshman Logan Thornton contributed 6 and 3 kills, respectively, during the Tigers’ narrow second-set triumph.

In the third set, the Falcons took the lead for good at 3-2 on a middle kill from Scribner.

Trailing 19-13, the Tigers pulled within 2 at 21-19 and 22-20 before the Falcons scored 3 of the last 4 points, including Jake Johnson’s kill off an assist from Syswerda, before the Lewis-bound standout sealed it with his 23rd kill of the match.

“This one will be sweet for a while,” said Syswerda.

“Aidan is one heck of a player and a heck of a leader,” said Noe. “He has been a four-year starter for us. He has a way that gets his teammates to perform their best, too.”

Manhattan-bound Bratt, the IHSA’s career kills and aces record holder, paced the Tigers with 19 kills.

“It could have gone either way,” said Bratt. “They came back from how we beat them previously. They did some things that they hadn’t done before. They’re a good team. They deserved every point they won.”

Joey Bruzdzinski and Hubner recorded 20 and 16 assists for the Falcons.

“This is a dream come true,” said Hubner.