For openers, North Stars tough

After losing four senior starters from last year's regional championship squad, a relatively inexperienced St. Charles North boys volleyball team took the court for its 2008 season opener Monday night.

Not a problem.

Fueled by veterans Rusty Lavaja, Grant Livingston and Austin Collingborne, the North Stars (1-0) earned a 25-16, 25-21 nonconference triumph over Leyden (0-1) in St. Charles.

Capitalizing on numerous Leyden hitting and passing errors, the North Stars scored the first 7 points of the opening game and jumped out to a 13-2 advantage.

Lavaja, a 6-foot-7 senior who has switched from middle to the outside, recorded 4 of his match-high 6 kills in the first game.

"I've been trying to transition from the middle to playing more outside," said Lavaja. "It's a lot different swing. I've been working at swinging higher at the ball instead of trying to hit the ball straight down."

One kill in particular stood out, as Lavaja took off from the back row for a powerful slam that had several Leyden players looking the other way for cover.

"We call those 'pipe balls,' " Lavaja said. "I can swing from anywhere -- it's pretty fun."

North Stars coach Brad Mitchell feels Lavaja will be even more formidable as the season progresses.

"He didn't really get into much of a rhythm today," Mitchell said. "But if he does get into a rhythm, he's going to be dangerous."

In Game 2, the North Stars quickly fell behind 7-2 and still trailed 19-15 before closing the match with a 10-2 surge.

"We played well in the first game," Mitchell said. "In the second game, we changed up the rotation a little bit and it threw my guys off -- we hadn't practiced that.

"Clearly, it threw us off because we had no rhythm. We were a mess. But that's OK because we have time to practice and try to figure out the best lineup."

Collingborne began the second-game rally with a kill before delivering 6 consecutive service points -- including a pair of aces -- to put the North Stars on top for good.

"It wasn't the cleanest game I've ever seen and probably not the cleanest game we'll see this year," said Mitchell of his team's 9 service errors -- 1 fewer than Leyden (10). "But as openers go, I'm OK with it."

The North Stars also received contributions from varsity newcomers Kegan Haeseli (1 block), Pat Sullivan (9 assists), Brad Pevonka, Louis Bisceglie and libero Ben Marquez (5 digs).

"We've just got to work out some kinks between the setting-hitting combination," said Livingston, who added 3 kills and 2 blocks. "This is Pat's first year setting, but he's improving real fast."