Boys volleyball: WW South rises to occasion at tournament

Now Wheaton Warrenville South just has to learn how to win the one-and-dones.

Zack Meyer had 12 kills, 6 digs and an ace, Plamen Pavlov added 6 kills and Alex Carr had 24 assists and 7 digs as Wheaton Warrenville South defeated Barrington 25-21, 25-13 to win the Mustang Invitational on Saturday in Downers Grove.

The Tigers improved to 18-5 with their second consecutive tournament championship and are 14-1 overall in tournaments. However, four of their five losses have come in single matches, most recently Wednesday against Minooka, and the state tournament is a series of single matches.

"It's definitely easier to focus when you have matches back-to-back-to-back as opposed to one-and-done," Meyer said. "In tournaments we can start off slow against a weaker team and build up from there, build up faster, faster, and everything is going toward the finals where you usually see our best play.

"We have to figure out how to get going really fast right off the get-go on weekdays," he added. "We can't keep doing what we've been doing the last month when we start slow. We have to start fast. Maybe we can scrimmage our JV team or something before each match."

WW South coach Bill Schreier said after Wednesday's loss that his team focused on speeding up its game, which served the Tigers well Saturday after Game 1 of a 21-25, 25-19, 25-18 quarterfinal victory over Naperville North and a 25-17, 25-22 win over Evanston in the semifinals.

"We're trying to play faster, not necessarily the sets or the tempo of the sets, but just wanting to play faster and force the issue," he said. "I compare it the kind of pitcher in baseball you always want to play behind, the pitcher who speeds up the game, just throws strikes and pounds the zone.

"I told the guys, 'Let's pound the zone,'" he added. "We still have a way to go, but I like the path we're on."

Barrington (16-6), which advanced to the finals by defeating Glenbard East 25-22, 18-25, 25-20 and New Trier 27-25, 16-25, 25-20 got 6 kills each from T.J. Murray and Joe Roeckell in the title match. But the Broncos committed 8 early errors to trail 15-6 in Game 2 and never recovered.

"The championship match was not really indicative of how we played all day," Barrington coach Rob Ridenour said. "We regressed in the championship match. But give WW South credit. They were focused and ready to go. We just weren't quite there that last match."

Naperville North (12-9) rebounded from its quarterfinal loss to WW South to defeat Lyons Twp. 23-25, 25-20, 27-25 and Downers Grove South 25-22, 27-25 and place fifth. After dropping the first set the Huskies rallied from a 13-3 deficit in Game 2 to beat Lyons.

"We came back from a big deficit to beat a real good West Aurora team last week," Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin said. "The guys are starting to get the confidence that they can do that. I took a step back from the huddles (against Lyons) and let my captains take over and say what they needed to say. The rest is history."