Benet falters against Downers Grove North

It was the same old story for Benet's volleyball team at the Addison Trail regional semi-finals against Downers Grove North on Tuesday.

The Redwings had some runs of brilliance when they looked as though they could play with any team in the state, but then they lapsed into inconsistent play that cost them the match 25-16, 25-17 and ended their season.

"It's the same inconsistency that we've struggled with all season," said Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren. "We played amazing volleyball at times. The kids worked hard, they wanted it badly and they tried to make the adjustments to beat Downers Grove North. But then they'd have a little bit of a breakdown and that killed us."

In Game 1 the Redwings (17-19) were trailing by just two points when the Trojans (29-7) went on a run led by a pair of 6-foot-6 frontliners Greg Petty and JP Tulacka and opened the lead to 9 points at the end of the game.

In Game 2 the Redwings had it tied at 13-13 when they had their letdown and the Trojans took control.

With Zach Parik at the service line, Downers North scored 7 points in a row to blow the game wide open. Two of those points were Parik's perfectly placed aces.

"Downers Grove North is a great team," Van Eekeren said. "They played very well all the way around, great serving and obviously great hitting. For a coach this has been a bitter-sweet season because played so well at times. But we can see the payoffs in the future. We'll return a lot of our top players next year, so we're expecting more consistent play."

Petty led the Trojans with 11 kills, middle hitter Jordan Thompson added 8.

"We sided out well and stayed within our system," said Downers Grove North coach Mark Wasik. "We had a nice balanced offense and we were consistent."

"At times this season we had trouble missing serves at critical times," said Parik, who had 27 assists. "But today we did well. Our attack was very strong. Our right-sides, our middles and our outsides were all clicking. We had good balance. You have to keep the other tem guessing and on their heels. You can't make it easy for them to stop us."

High man for the Redwings was Bobby Wehrli with 6 kills and 2 blocks. Dan Nesnidal had 4 blocks and Eric Kleiser had 4 kills.