Boys volleyball: Deener, Lakes swing past Grayslake North
Sometimes funks happen.
Everything was going fine with Jacob Deener's jump serve earlier in the season. Then last weekend the Lakes senior outside hitter started having a tough time getting his serve over the net.
He had some trouble again on Tuesday in a match against visiting Grayslake North.
"It's crazy how that happens," Deener said of his out-of-the-blue funk. "Lately I haven't been serving well. It's just something I need to work on. I think I just need to change my toss. I need to make it higher.
"It's just a little off right now."
The rest of Deener's game was certainly on against Grayslake North. He threw down a game-high 8 kills, many with booming authority, to lead the Eagles to a 25-13, 25-18 Northern Lake County Conference sweep.
"In some early games this season, we were struggling with our passing but we've worked on that and I think we bounced back in this game and that leads to (good hitting opportunities)," said the 6-foot-7 Deener, who will be playing in college next year at Lakeland University in Wisconsin. "We all just played well as a team.
"Our hitting from the right side and the middle was really good today."
Lakes, which moves to 13-9 overall and 4-0 in the Northern Lake County Conference, also got 5 kills from Chris Leyva, 4 kills from Evan Schneider and 2 kills from Matthew Haufe.
"Jacob (Deener) can set the tone for us. It's nice to have that big intimidating presence like him on the outside. When he plays well, we play exceptionally well," said Lakes coach Kevin Glabowicz, who also got 10 digs from both Michael Modell and Mark Grandos and 6 digs from Haufe. "We also had a lot of balance tonight. When we're balanced, we're the most lethal."
Lakes rushed out to a 10-4 lead in the first set and then extended that 17-8, thanks to kills by Deener and Leyva.
In the second set, Grayslake North got off to a better start, forcing Lakes to take a timeout with the score knotted at 9-9.
The Knights are improving with each set, and even each point. The program is in only its second year of existence.
"A lot of the problems we've been having this season are with talking and communicating with each other," Grayslake North hitter Brandon Lebaron said. "We're working on it, trying to improve on that. Lakes has been around longer and has that experience. We haven't. It's going to take some time.
"Most of our guys have played only in high school, maybe some in middle school. Not a lot (of club). But we're getting better and we're working a lot harder since last year."
Lebaron led Grayslake North (3-10 overall, 1-3 NLCC) with 4 kills. Austin Martineau, Alex Hartigan and Jamal Thomas added 2 kills apiece.
Setter Nick Anello had 9 assists and Bryan Melgoza picked up 14 digs. Lebaron also had 6 digs.
"We have some really good athletes, but we're still learning the volleyball knowledge that you don't always have with kids who are so new to the game," Grayslake North coach Nikki Kirchway said. "There's the timing and where to be in position. We're trying to instill that in them. We're also working on leadership and trying to instill that culture now. It can be tough sometimes but we're much better now than we were last year."