Boys volleyball: Neuqua Valley wins sixth straight match

Life these days is good for the Neuqua Valley boys volleyball team.

The Wildcats (14-7) dispatched visiting Plainfield North on Monday 25-12, 25-21 for their sixth straight match win with the momentum gained crucial for Tuesday's key battle against Naperville North. Both teams are 3-0 in DuPage Valley Conference.

Neuqua coach Erich Mendoza said DVC battles are consistently intense.

"Any time you play North, Naperville Central, Metea, Waubonsie, it's going to be intense. The players have familiarity with each other, many are friends and they've played (at the club level) with or against each other," he said.

The win streak includes victories over Wheaton Warrenville South, Marmion, Waubonsie Valley, Naperville Central and Metea.

"I think it's been mainly our passing and setting," senior Ryan McGladdery said of the Wildcats' success. "Kevin (Kauling), our setter, has done a great job running our offense."

McGladdery led the Wildcats on Monday with 9 kills.

What is going on the court has been vital, but what also helped Neuqua happened earlier. Lineup holes, caused by graduation, were filled.

"We started off slow because we were trying to figure out the lineup. We had graduated four out of last season's starting six. We were trying to get guys into positions where they would be able to succeed," Mendoza said.

The Neuqua coach said a key was moving senior Jeremy Cardenas from middle hitter to the outside to generate more offense. It has worked.

But before a return to DVC play, the task at hand Monday was dealing with the Plainfield North Tigers, who entered the match with a 17-7 record.

The Wildcats made easy work of Plainfield North in Game 1. Neuqua led the entire way and two unanswered kills by McGladdery put Neuqua up 17-5.

Later, the Tigers pulled to within single digits at 20-12. A kill by the Wildcats' Gabe Scharosch, an ace by Kauling and a kill by Cardenas closed out the Game 1 victory.

"We have a wide variety of really good hitters and that allows us to put the ball down," Cardenas said.

Plainfield North led early in Game 2, 5-4. Neuqua built up a 20-12 advantage. The Tigers rallied and pulled to with 23-21, but the Wildcats prevailed.

Cardenas and Scharosch finished with 4 kills apiece. Kauling served up 2 aces.