Addison Trail gets into the flow

One could take away from Monday’s Addison Trail 25-13, 25-14 boys volleyball win over visiting Fenton how the Blazers showed successfully how to build momentum in a match and how the Bison continue learning that skill.

“We played a nice team game. Our blocking was solid and our serving was tough. I thought Marco Parisi served really well,” said Addison Trail coach Tom Hubner, whose team improved to 2-1.

With Addison Trail ahead 4-2 in Game 1, Parisi, the Blazers’ libero, served for the first time in the match. When the ball went back to Fenton, Addison Trail led 11-3. Kills by Alex Dickmann and Jon Valintini, a block by Dickmann and Matt Hernet and an ace by Parisi powered the drive.

Before the Blazers’ opened the game up, Fenton (2-6) showed some strong defense against the Blazers’ attack and responded well after Addison Trail’s 7-0 run.

Blocks by Usama Maan and Nathan Rivera and a kill by Jakub Lewandowski put Fenton to within 6, but that was as close as it would get in the opening game. The Bison could not build up enough momentum to establish control from the start or take away control of Game 1 from Addison Trail, and the same thing happened in Game 2.

Fenton coach Heather Snyder believes her young team is not far off from learning the lesson of momentum.

“Good things are happening, just not the end result. I feel once we beat the teams we should beat and be more competitive with who we should be competitive with, we’ll be able to hang with teams that would give us a good fight,” she said.

Game 2 saw the Bison pull to within 7-4 on a kill by Jose Diaz. The Blazers countered with a 9-3 run to break the game open and secure match victory.

Hernet and Valintini led Addison Trail with 5 kills each. Lewandowski had 3 kills and Maan and Diaz had 3 blocks each for Fenton.

“The key for us is to give 100 percent at practice. You play how your practice,” Hernet said.

Hubner has just four seniors on the roster but believes his team has an opportunity for a successful season if all the pieces fall into the place due to what he considers parity in boys volleyball in the Blazers’ conference, the West Suburban Gold, and in DuPage County in general.

“We’re still young. We’re trying to get everybody on the same page. But I think this season comes down to who plays better on a given night,” Hubner said.

The Blazers open conference play Tuesday with a match at Proviso East. The Bison return to action Saturday at the St. Charles East Invitational.