Boys volleyball: Neuqua Valley sizes up win over Addison Trail
Neuqua Valley may not be the dominant boys volleyball team it was last year when it finished second in the state, but the Wildcats are still head and shoulders above most teams, at least when it comes to height.
Kevin Kauling and Jeremy Cardenas are the only returning starters for the Wildcats, but the 6-foot-8 seniors are hard to defend.
Just ask Addison Trail, which had no answer for the pair on Thursday in the opening round of pool play at Wheaton Warrenville South's Tiger Classic. The Lewis-bound Kauling dished 22 assists to go with 4 kills, and Cardenas, despite playing out of position, led all players with 11 kills to lead the Wildcats to a 25-16, 25-23 victory.
"He is huge," Addison Trail setter Nico Nasti said of Kauling, one of the tallest setters around. "It's definitely hard, but we've got to rely on our defense and our passes and play pretty scrappy.
"We know we're going to be shorter than most people we play against, but we've got to focus on our defense."
Nasti, a senior who is 10 inches shorter than Kauling, and the Blazers (2-2) were scrappy on defense and took the second game to the wire before 6-4 junior Jack Young capped Neuqua's win with a kill.
Nasti had 18 assists but Addison Trail could not match the offensive firepower of the Wildcats (1-2), who earned a 28-14 edge in kills.
Kauling was superb, especially in long rallies and seemingly whenever his team needed a big point. He dug balls, set Cardenas and Gabe Scharosch with regularity and spiked kills with authority. Scharosch, a 5-11 junior outside hitter, contributed 7 kills and 10 service points, including 3 aces.
"It's a great feeling (being the leader)," Kauling said. "We won this tournament last year, got second in state and now we're trying to have fun and get back to state. Jeremy and I need to put everything out there."
Cardenas is a middle hitter but was playing on the outside because two other starters are gone for spring break. But he didn't miss a beat in helping the Wildcats get on track after they opened the season with losses to West Aurora and Bolingbrook.
"I thought we hit pretty well," Cardenas said. "The first couple games we struggled with our hitting but now we're making progress."
Kauling and Cardenas both said the Wildcats have a long way to go before they can be considered elite.
"We're obviously not there yet," Kauling said. "We're making a lot of dumb errors and missing serves, but if we clean that up we could get a lot better and we could be a great team.
"We're still focusing on the little errors that have been killing us, but when we figure that out we're usually pretty good, like in the first set."
Despite the slow start Cardenas has been having fun, knowing it will take some time to put the new pieces together.
"We are a new team for the most part," Cardenas said. "We lost the dynamic we had with our old team and we're just getting that back. But we're looking to push back and have a good season."