advertisement

West Chicago outlasts Fenton

The West Chicago boys volleyball team narrowly picked up its fourth victory of the season with a win over the Fenton Bison in three sets.

After taking the first set with a 27-25 win, the Wildcats dropped the second 27-25 but came from behind to take the third 25-22.

"I think at certain moments we came together and the energy was really high and we did the right things," said Fenton coach Heather Peterson. "We kind of hit a funk in the last of the third game, and when you're neck and neck and point for point the whole time you can't really afford to go down two or three points."

In the first game the Bison got out to a 6-2 lead, but the Wildcats came back to make it 8-8. From then on the two teams exchanged points all the way up until 24-24.

The Wildcats then went up 26-25 and a block from Gyula Finlan was the first-set decider for West Chicago.

After an even start in the second set, Fenton went on a nice run to 16-10, the biggest lead for either team in any set. But the Wildcats, led by team captain Brian Benes, got back into the game.

Benes, who had 11 kills on the day, started a rally with a nice kill to make it 17-11. West Chicago continued to battle, cutting the Bison lead to 21-19, but the Bison held on for the 27-25 win.

The third set was just as close as the first two with the two teams going back and forth until West Chicago capped off a 4-0 run to get the score to 20-18.

After a pair of kills from Benes and Bruce to make it 23-21, an impressive diving dig from Isaias Flores which ended up going over the net for a point, put the Wildcats ahead at 24-21.

"It got us extremely pumped up," Benes said. "It was probably the best dive we've seen all season."

After Fenton got a point back, Benes got his 11th kill to finish the match and get the win for his team.

"We get him the ball and he can put the ball down, that's for sure," said Wildcats coach Kristy Hasty. "I think it's just a matter of him being confident. He can get on a run and get one or two in a row and then he makes mistakes and gets up and down emotionally. But if we can just get him confident he can definitely be our go-to person."

Fenton was led in kills by Antony Lopez with 4 and in blocks by Usama Maan with 10.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.