Boys volleyball: Wheeling takes care of Prospect

Wheeling set itself up for a huge boys volleyball win Thursday in Mt. Prospect.

Wheeling's dual setters George Tsogtbaatar and Jared Urueta had their team moving the ball well and Prospect chasing as the Wildcats took care of business with identical 25-15, 25-15 Mid-Suburban East wins.

"We had real good ball control tonight," Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski said. "We had really good setting decisions tonight. And then our hitters executed tonight."

Instead of working the ball to the middle, they got the ball to the outside, especially to Jared Moser who finished the match with 11 kills.

"That is where our main strength is," said Urueta, who was 15-of-16 sets and had 8 assists. "Every time we got stuck in our rotation, he was our outlet. He just hit it fast and is good to play with."

Tsogtbaatar, who was 24-for-24 on his sets and had 12 assists, said the Wildcats had some issues getting the ball to the middle.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't get our passes well to the middle," Tsogtbaatar said. "Our outsides are usually our last resort, but we used them as our main hitters tonight."

The Cats also got solid play from outside hitter Kuba Ciepeila, who had 3 kills, while Tsogtbaatar and Urueta each had 2 kills. Wheeling also was able to go inside at times to 6-foot-8 Jan Baranowski, who had 5 kills.

Wheeling (11-4, 3-1) wasn't as overpowering in the first game as it was in the second game. But the Wildcats relied on solid play to pull away from a 4-4 tie and bust out to an 18-7 lead and coast from there.

"Volleyball is a game of momentum," Kopkowski said. "Anytime the other team is making mistakes, you want to take that to your advantage."

Prospect coach Mike Riedy agreed.

"They played real even-keel volleyball," Riedy said of the Wildcats. "They pretty much controlled the net. When they weren't getting power kills, they gave us the ball back and waited for us to make a mistake."

Wheeling was able to break away from a 10-7 lead in the second game when the Wildcats went to the left side to find Moser, who set up shop there. The senior had 3 consecutive monster kills as Wheeling opened up a 15-7 advantage and never looked back.

"Usually it is all about the set," said Moser, who had 7 kills in the second game. "My setters were giving me real good sets and my libero was calling out the shots and I was hitting where he told me to go and it was always open."

Prospect (7-9, 2-2) was led by Cory Fugiel, who had 10 kills and Ben Miller with 5 kills.

"We need to convince ourselves that we are better than we played tonight," Ridley said. "The sooner we get it in our minds that we can compete with big teams, the better off we will be."