Red Devils remain calm, come back to beat Waubonsie

Don't think for a minute that the Hinsdale Central boys volleyball team is delusional, just because it doesn't think it's down 4 points when, in fact, it is down 4 points.

After winning the first game Wednesday 25-21, the Red Devils came from a 15-11 deficit to sweep Waubonsie Valley 25-22 in Aurora.

"We don't even see it that we're down 4 points," said Jordan Williams, who led Hinsdale Central with 9 kills. "We know we're going to come back. We have practice for situations like that. We just play our game. We play at one speed."

That attitude is helping the Red Devils as they work to get into match fitness, having played only two matches before Wednesday. Waubonsie Valley, on the other hand, was playing its 12th match of the season.

"We're feeling our way through," said Hinsdale Central coach Len Serwat. "We still have to work out little timing things, getting used to being on the floor, who you're playing next to."

The other team strength that was apparent was the experienced nucleus of solid volleyball players led by co-captains Peter Netisingha and Pat Dodd.

So reliable are the seniors that Serwat doesn't even go into the huddle during many timeouts.

"Most of the time they know what to say to each other," Serwat said. "I go through everything at practice. I can't be in their heads when the ball is in the air. When we were behind, they knew we had to stop Waubonsie Valley. So we stopped them."

Serwat had high praise for Williams, who had 4 of his kills during that second- game comeback.

"Jordan is a developing player," Serwat said. "He's 6-feet-5 with a big reach and he can get up in the air. But he also knows how to adjust to things."

Dodd registered 7 kills and Netisingha dished out 20 assists. The blocking was handled by Noah Johnson with 4 and sophomore Ryan Vozenilek with 3. Rob Everette was the kill leader with 10.

For the Warriors (6-6), who committed 12 errors in the first game, it was another frustrating loss for a team that seems to have the ability to play with anybody.

"We have a tendency to get up against top teams and then we relax and let the other team come back and beat us," said Waubonsie Valley coach Al Lagger. "We're not getting beaten badly by anybody. We just get to a certain point and we make mental mistakes and it costs us."

For most of the match, Alex Gigler was a dominant hitter, finishing with 16 kills. He didn't have one after the Warriors reached the 15-point mark of the second game.

"Our passing was off tonight and we had a rough time getting the ball to Alex during that stretch," Lagger said.

The coach said he expects the strong early-season schedule to toughen the Warriors up for the Upstate Eight Conference season, which begins in earnest next week.

"We play good competition early so we know what we have to work on," he said.