Symonds brothers pace Glenbard E.

On the volleyball court it'd be hard to get brothers Ben and Nick Symonds confused.

Yes, the identical twins share the same DNA, but as a libero, you could find Ben in a black shirt as Glenbard East traveled 2 miles down the road to Willowbrook for its season opener while Nick, an outside hitter, was in red with the rest of his teammates.

The pair play contrasting styles - thus the contrasting positions - but they were both similarly great on Tuesday night in leading their team to a 25-12, 25-16 sweep.

The defensive specialist, Ben did a little of everything in the contest with 9 digs, 3 assists, 2 kills and an ace. Nick, the offensive threat, smashed home 9 kills. It was a sharp opening night for the Rams offensively as they eye big things in their first year in the Upstate Eight Conference.

"I thought a lot of guys stepped up and hit the ball real well," Rams coach Marci Maier said. "Our two main outsides, Tyler Greene and Nick Symonds really ripped some balls up there for us."

With Symonds and Greene operating in space on the outside and senior setter Andrew Hurlburt feeding them in rhythm to the tune of 21 assists, the Rams got out to leads of 10-2 and 20-10 before closing the first game 25-12.

In the second game Glenbard East again put the game out of reach early by racing out to a 10-2 lead. Willowbrook struggled to find any consistency offensively beyond a 9-kill night from outside hitter Ryan Wakely and 14 assists from setter Tommy King.

"Glenbard East is always a quality opponent," Willowbrook coach Ryan Bazon said when asked what caused the offensive trouble. "I was telling my guys that they're a group of guys who always want to win together. There are no individuals, they're just a good team. So it was definitely the quality of the team. We have a lot to learn, but it's early in the year."

As the second game wore on, Glenbard East continued to showcase their depth up front as eight Rams managed kills on the night.

"We have 10 seniors on this team and eight (returning contributors) are back from last year," Maier said. "So we have some players that are versatile. I wanted to get everybody into the game tonight, so I was even playing some guys out of position and they did well."