Neuqua sweeps sloppy Naperville North

With back-to-back state trophies under its belt, the Neuqua Valley boys volleyball team visited Naperville North on Wednesday and swept a young Huskies squad to open the season.

But it wasn't all that easy, especially after the host Huskies (0-1) picked up their play dramatically in Game 2 before eventually falling 25-13, 25-23 to the Wildcats, who have finished third in the state in each of the last two springs.

In a sloppy opener Naperville North looked a lot like a team with eight juniors on the roster and a sophomore starter in Shane Witmer. Missed serves, attacks that sailed way deep and some struggles in the passing game allowed a sharp Neuqua squad to break from a 5-5 tie to build a 13-6 lead en route to a 25-13 victory.

But the Huskies exhibited plenty fight in the second game and led 21-19 following a winner by Jon Burkhart before Neuqua took advantage of a couple Naperville North errors to pull out Game 2 and complete the sweep.

"You just don't know what's going to happen," said Wildcats outside hitter Tim Brackett when asked about the possibility of allowing the Huskies to send the match to a decisive third game. "It's always good when you can fight back and get the last couple points."

While the Huskies allowed Neuqua to battle back late in Game 2 because of a net violation and a pair of hitting errors, Jon Coraglio earned the Wildcats 24th point of the game with a kill from the middle, and Brackett ended the match with a kill that closed out the game at 25-23.

"Overall our volleyball wasn't as good as it was in Game 1," Wildcats coach Erich Mendoza said. "We always talk about no letdowns - but I think a big part of it is North came out and played a better game."

Witmer paced the Huskies with 5 kills and 6-foot-6 Colin Ball had 4 kills and 3 blocks, but the hosts did not have enough firepower to hold off a balanced Wildcats attack led by Rob Bauer and Derek Menendez.

"They were clean and we were sloppy (in Game 1). But in Game 2 we were more aggressive and we hung with them," Huskies coach Roger Strausberger said. "We're just trying to fit the pieces together still and get everybody involved."

Brackett said winning at Naperville North is a great way for the Wildcats to start the season.

"It's good to come in here and win," he said. "We had our opener with Oswego canceled, so we had to come in and play this real good team to start the season."