Glenbard East slowly finds its rhythm, drop Glenbard North

A little bit of rhythm got Glenbard East where it wanted to be.

Dropping the first game of the volleyball match to host Glenbard North, the Rams regained momentum to win both teams' DuPage Valley Conference opener 19-25, 25-18, 25-17.

"In the first game we really didn't do what we need to do, we didn't really have a rhythm," said Glenbard East's 6-foot-5 setter, Mark Jones, who finished with 15 assists and 8 kills. "But in the second game and the third game we brought it out."

Rams coach Marci Maier also brought in outside hitter Tim Lovik. The senior shook off the remnants of some Monday illness to put down 9 kills, serve up 3 aces and generally add oomph after Glenbard North (2-2, 0-1) stormed to a 7-1 lead in the first game.

"I was trying to see if we could hold down the fort without him," Maier said. "But we got off to such a bad start that I had to play him. He said he was good to go today. We put him in and he definitely makes a big difference."

Glenbard North rode right-side hitter Chris Kosirog early in the first game and middle hitter Kyle Schwetz late, the Panthers aiming to match last season's first-round DVC win over Glenbard East (2-0, 1-0).

"We came out really aggressive, we were all pumped up," said Panthers setter Adam Mark, whose 22 assists helped Kosirog rack up 12 kills and Schwetz and Tyler Gustafson 8 each.

After breaking a 5-5 tie early in the second game, the Rams welcomed several Glenbard North errors to take a 10-5 lead. The trio of Jones, Lovik and 6-6 middle blocker Piotr Dabrowski did the rest in a 25-18 Game 2 win.

"We came out, we played our game. We set the tempo," Jones said.

The third game began similarly, the teams tied 8-8 before three straight Dabrowski kills helped the Rams go up 15-10.

Glenbard North coach Dedra DeBenedetti took time, and the Panthers rallied within 17-16. Jones and Lovik countered that, the Rams winning 8 of the next 9 points for a 25-17 decision.

"Their main hitters were able to pick us apart, just hitting the zones," Mark said.

"We were nice and aggressive, came out strong in that first game," DeBenedetti said. "We kept our errors down - we only had five unforced errors. So that obviously was the difference, where we had some service errors in the second, and blocking. Glenbard East has some great players, and we weren't reading them."