Neuqua Valley refuses to lose

The Neuqua Valley boys volleyball team went right to the precipice but refused to go over, and so the Wildcats are headed to the state tournament for the second year in a row.

After losing the first game, and facing Naperville Central's match point in the second, the Wildcats caught a break, capitalized on it and went on to win in three games, 18-25, 27-25, 25-21, to take the Naperville North sectional championship.

"This is unbelievable," said Jake Blackman of Neuqua Valley. "We were shooting for this all year. We finished third at state last year, and this time we want to take it one step further and win the state title."

Rob Bauer, who led the Wildcats with 12 kills, smashed his final one for match point and a trip to the state quarterfinal round, which begins Friday afternoon at Hoffman Estates High School.

The Wildcats were facing the prospect of going home with a two-game loss when a service error by Naperville Central gave them the sideout with the score tied at 24.

A kill by Blackman gave Neuqua the lead, but then the Redhawks (31-8) tied it at 25-25.

But a hitting error by the Redhawks gave Neuqua the advantage.

With Sean Harmon serving with a 1-point lead, Collin Adler put away a block to win the game and send the match to a rubber game.

"After that we just said that if we keep playing like that we're going to go home," Neuqua's Brian Clark said. "So we finally started playing with a sense of urgency. Everyone took it upon himself to play better and make fewer mental errors. In the third game our blocking was huge."

Neuqua Valley (36-3) controlled the third game, leading by anywhere from 3-6 points most of the way.

"We have a lot of experience going into three games," Blackman said. "We can come back from anything."

First-year coach Erich Mendoza believes that the experience his players had last year made them calm and cool under pressure.

"Our guys know they can come back," Mendoza said. "It's what we've been doing all year in tight situations. We don't lose our composure. We don't get nervous. We just try to keep things simple out there."

Mendoza said the Wildcats knew all year that if they played to their level of ability, they would get back to state.

"It doesn't matter that there's a big crowd," Mendoza said. "Or what the refs or the other team is doing. If we play the way we're capable of playing, everything will take care of itself."

Blackman added 10 kills and 3 blocks, Brad Stout was the digs leader with 15, and Harmon had 36 assists.

Dan Dierking led the Redhawks with 13 kills, Matt Yanz had 9 kills and 6 blocks, and Matt Schmitz had 8 kills. Hunter Lee kept up a match-high 16 digs, and Victor Lei set for 35 assists.

"We had a little too many serving errors and blocking errors tonight," said Naperville Central coach Bryan Johnwick. "But I'm proud of the way our guys played this year. We achieved a lot of our goals and we kept fighting when our backs were to the wall. We just fell a little short tonight."