Boys volleyball: WW South gets back on track against Waubonsie Valley
Both coaches of the Waubonsie Valley and Wheaton Warrenville South boys volleyball teams wanted to see a certain level of play on the Warriors' home court Tuesday night. Both got their wish.
The Tigers won 25-11, 25-19, and coach Bill Schreier was pleased with how his team responded after suffering its first DuPage Valley Conference loss last Thursday at Naperville Central.
"We've started to ramp things up. We hit a little lull last week. We had a nice effort against Neuqua Valley, but we were lackluster against Naperville Central later in the match," he said. "I thought we came out aggressive (against Waubonsie) and lost a little bit of in Set 2. But we got it back."
Waubonsie coach Noel Soto is stressing to his team that despite the hurdles the team has faced this season, it must continue to battle and it showed that in Game 2.
The Tigers (22-6, 5-1 DuPage Valley Conference) appeared to have Game 2 well in hand, leading by as much as 9.
A kill by Brandon Pedersen cut the WW South advantage to 19-12 and the Warriors (8-25, 1-5) took over serving with Elliot Myong. A hitting error by the Tigers, a kill by Jake Furman and a block by Matthew Salmon made it a 19-15 game.
David Bredeweg's kill, with WW South serving, gave Waubonsie the ball back and cut the lead to 20-16. A hitting error by the Tigers made it 20-17.
WW South, however, went on a 5-2 scoring run to secure the game and match.
"We've had injuries. We've had three JV players up for a week and there are two sophomores on the roster. But that is no excuse. You have to keep fighting through," Soto said. "We couldn't get into the flow. I challenged them before Game 2 to play our style and they came back and competed. Every team has their ups and downs and you have to fight through it."
Pedersen led the Warriors with 6 kills, Braden Israelsen had 7 assists and Jake Furman had 6.
Game 1 was owned mostly by the Tigers. With WW South ahead 13-8, Mark Harrison took over serving and his team racked up eight unanswered points to take a 21-8 advantage.
An ace by Harrison and kills by Zach Meyer, Alex Carr and Plamen Pavlov and a block by Pavlov and Danny Gottlieb fueled the scoring run.
"It was a collective team effort. Zach Meyer is our go-to guy in these situations, but Mark and Plamen gave Alex options to set," Schreier said.
Meyer led the team with 11 kills and 7 digs. Carr has 16 assists and 6 digs.
Waubonsie, a 20th seed in the Glenbard West sectional, returns to its court Wednesday to face Geneva. WW South, a No. 2 seed at Glenbard West, hosts Metea Valley on Thursday with next week concluding the regular season.