Boys volleyball: Glenbard West beats Addison Trail for 12th straight win
Glenbard West won the boys volleyball state title in 2015 and is poised for another championship run. Addison Trail finished third in the state last year and is starting from scratch.
The difference between the two teams was never more evident than Thursday in Addison.
Kyler Kotsakis had 7 kills and 2 aces, Will Church had 5 kills and Paulie Bischoff added 21 assists, 4 blocks, 2 kills and an ace as the Hilltoppers barely broke a sweat on their way to a 25-11, 25-12 victory, their 12th without a loss.
Meanwhile, Addison Trail, which returns only two players who saw any significant playing time a year ago and features a roster with eight sophomores, fell to 3-10.
Nevertheless, Addison Trail coach Chad Grant saw some positives from his young team.
"We passed pretty well in Game 1," Grant said. "I was kind of impressed by our serve receive. But obviously coming into this match the biggest thing you're worried about is being scared and completely shutting down, and I didn't think we did that.
"We hung in there," he added. "There were just too many mismatches out there for us to hang in there point-for-point with them. Our serve receive was definitely one of the positives, and I thought we really got some good attacks when the pass was there and we were in system."
Kannon Nelms led Addison Trail with 3 kills, sophomore Jacob Grygo added 4 assists and 2 kills and junior Arlind Rojba and sophomore Michael Strycharz each had 2 digs.
Meanwhile, Glenbard West's Kotsakis continues to get comfortable with some of his new teammates - including juniors Cameron Lilly, Johnny Winkler and libero Zach Norvid - after missing several matches earlier this season.
"The juniors are doing a great job," the team co-captain said. "They're really experienced and they have a lot of talent. We're definitely going to miss the seniors from last year. They were great leaders. But the seniors this year are doing a great job stepping into their shoes."
Kotsakis has had little trouble re-establishing his rapport with Bischoff, however.
"Paulie's doing a great job," Kotsakis said. "Collectively, we're putting up good passes for him so we can run a fast offense. That's one of our strengths and what we really focus on to get better because that can be a deal-breaker for our team, passing and serve receive."
Lilly added 4 kills, Winkler had 3 kills and Norvid had 9 digs for Glenbard West.
"As a captain, I try to encourage the juniors to have a good work ethic in practice," Kotsakis said. "A lot of times you get complacent when you're winning a lot and you think you're good. The reality is we still have a lot of things we have to work on.
"We want to be consistent," he added. "That's really what we're trying to push. Be as consistent as possible because a lot of other teams are kind of up and down right now, but we just want be steady. That goes for emotions, too. We want to have a lot of energy all the time."