Wheaton N. surprises St. Charles N.
While unbeaten and nationally ranked Wheaton Warrenville South deservedly receives its share of accolades, there’s more than one boys volleyball team in Wheaton seeking to gain some attention.
Wheaton North captured its first regional championship since 2004 with an impressive 25-18, 25-17 victory over fourth-seeded St. Charles North (21-14) Wednesday night at St. Charles East.
Zachery Sinn led the way with 9 kills, while Joey Krzyewski added 8 kills and 3 aces as the 12th-seeded Falcons earned a berth in Friday night’s Elgin sectional semifinals against top-seeded Elk Grove, which knocked off York by identical 25-14 scores Wednesday in Elk Grove.
Wheaton North entered this week’s postseason play with just 8 victories before downing Conant, fifth-seeded Schaumburg and St. Charles North on 3 successive nights.
“We started playing like a team the last three games and it showed with these wins,” said senior Kevin Rezabek, who had 4 aces, 2 kills and a pair of block kills. “Yeah, there were a few miscues but it’s looking good right now.”
In Game 1, the Falcons took the lead for good at 7-6 on a lift call against St. Charles North. Krzyewski, who finished with 4 kills in the opener, added back-to-back aces to give Wheaton North some breathing room late in the game.
The Falcons jumped out to a 6-0 in the second game and never looked back, as Rezabek got things rolling with 3 early aces while teammate Alex Jackson delivered a powerful middle kill.
Rezabek, Clark and Hank Bowen sparked the Falcons’ solid net play.
“Last night, we didn’t have a block and today we turned it on,” said Rezabek. “That is what won us this game.”
Meanwhile, libero Alex Donahue added a pair of spectacular sliding digs as part of the Falcons’ complete effort.
“Everyone was on the floor playing together,” said Falcons coach Ryan Baker. “We got a whole team effort out there tonight.”
Competing against the likes of Wheaton Warrenville South, Naperville Central and Naperville North prepared the Falcons for postseason play.
“Coming out of the DVC, you get some battle scars but you come out of the other end better for it,” said Baker. “When you play against the best every Tuesday and Thursday, you learn a lot of lessons and I think that showed tonight.”
It was a frustrating night for the North Stars, who were paced by Branden Hoerner (8 kills), Kevin Beach (3 kills), and Josh Shaw (3 kills, 1 block kill).
“We had an off-night,” said North Stars coach Todd Weimer. “We didn’t do a whole lot of anything. If you can’t serve receive, it’s going to be 25-0 real quickly. That just affected everything. It was very uncharacteristic of our season.
“We’ve had a terrific season,” added Weimer. “It’s the first time we’ve gotten to 20 wins. It has been a really fun season.”