Glenbard West's feel-good season continues
There have been a lot of fun things happening around the Glenbard West volleyball program this season, and the fun continued at the Oswego East sectional.
In a 25-11, 25-19 victory over Naperville North in the first semifinal Friday night, the 36-2 Hilltoppers played loose and smiled throughout while turning in a near-flawless effort on the court. Top-seeded Glenbard West has been playing so well of late that coach Christine Giunta-Mayer gets a little giddy when talking about her team.
"They're really focused in right now and it's fun," said the Hilltoppers coach, whose squad is one win away from returning to the state tournament. "It's been so fun to watch this team all year."
It was not a lot of fun for sixth-seeded Naperville North (23-15), which trailed in the opener 10-3 following a kill by Hilltoppers senior Jackson Nagle. The Huskies made a few mistakes early on and it cost them against an opponent that was at the top of its game.
Naperville North, which played one of the tougher schedules around this spring and finished second in the rugged DuPage Valley Conference, was better in the second set but still not good enough to prevent a sweep by the Hilltoppers.
"Everything comes together when we're having fun," Glenbard West junior setter Paul Bischoff said after his 23 assists helped his team advance to Tuesday's sectional championship against No. 2 Glenbard East. "We try not to be as serious before the game. We try to relax and just have fun on the court."
Bischoff said the Hilltoppers did their homework to help prepare for the Huskies. "I feel like we played really collectively as a team," he said. "Overall, right before the game we scouted them one last time. We really just watched the film over and over again. We knew every player and we knew everything about them on the court. They're a great team and we just scouted the heck out of them."
It paid off as fast starts in each game led to the sweep of Naperville North. Nagle led a balanced attack with 9 kills while Kyle Kotsakis and Eric Button each had five winners. But the Hilltoppers also excelled in blocking and defense with Button adding 9 digs and Parker Swartz recording 4 blocks.
Naperville North coach Nathan Bornancin will miss a group of nine seniors that helped turn the program around this year.
"It's disappointing but I'm just proud of these seniors," he said. "They came out of a rough season last year. They really turned things around not only for them but for the program."
One of the seniors, 6-foot-2 outside hitter Jack Lenert, said afterward that the end came too soon.
"They didn't really surprise us with anything they just came out a lot stronger than we did," Lenert said of the Hilltoppers. "We had a lot of jitters I guess. But this season was so much better than last season. I love these guys and I hate to see this end."