It's close, but WW South gets win over Glenbard East
A sweep, sure. One-sided, not at all.
Three-time defending state champion Wheaton Warrenville South held serve on its home court in Tuesday's DuPage Valley Conference opener, but the Tigers' 25-23, 26-24 win over Glenbard East was about as close as possible for a two-game match.
Wheaton Warrenville South (8-4) trailed for much of Game 1 - including 21-19 - before finally prevailing after a kill by Matt Wilkins. Then in the nightcap, another tight contest was tied at 23-all and the visiting Rams even temporarily thought they had a 24-23 lead before the officials reversed the previous point and made it 24-23 Tigers after an illegal replacement.
Even then Glenbard East (1-1) still managed to draw even at 24-24 before the hosts claimed the night's final two points to win the match.
"Glenbard East is always strong and they played well," said Wilkins, who finished with 9 kills, 2 blocks and 7 digs while working well with his brother Eric Wilkins, the WW South setter. "In the first game we were down a lot and came back to win. We showed a lot of improvements."
The Rams not only were one of the Tigers top threats in the DVC a year ago but were a state contender as well before falling to WW South in the sectional round. This year's team does not yet have the firepower and experience to match last year's squad, but coach Marci Maier had no complaints with her team's effort, especially when factoring in it was her team's second match and it was playing in Wheaton against a Tigers team that had 11 matches under its belt.
"They were firing on all cylinders and I thought we were too," Maier said. "It was a great game, I think, on both sides."
The Rams led 14-11 in the opener before some strong serving by Matt Wilkins helped WW South to take a 17-16 lead. But the visitors led 20-18 following a kill by Jeremy Curtiss and then 21-19 following a powerful smash by Matt Hartigan before the Tigers turned things around late to win.
Game 2 featured 16 ties, the final of which came at 23-23 after the Tigers' Bodie Ebergeng delivered a clutch kill. It was at that point that the Rams appeared to move ahead 24-23 before it was ruled that one of their players had entered the match too quickly and the officials turned a 24-23 Rams lead into a 24-23 deficit.
To Glenbard East's credit, it did score the next point to draw even, but Matt Wilkins' ninth kill of the match made it 25-24 and then the Tigers senior fired off a tough serve that the Rams couldn't handle and the match was over.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win each game," Maier said.
WW South coach Bill Schreier, whose teams usually save their best volleyball for late in the season, saw some nice signs in the league opener.
"I think we're on the path," he said. "We're going in the right direction."