Boys volleyball: Downers Grove South sweeps Addison Trail

Senior Night started off on a sour note for the Downers Grove South boys volleyball team on Tuesday.

After a late start due to some team delays, plus extended presentations for seven seniors, the Mustangs fell into an early hole against Addison Trail. The Blazers jumped out to leads of 5-2 and 8-3 to seize control in front of a large crowd.

But then Downers Grove South senior outside hitter Brandon Parks stepped to the service line.

The match then tilted toward the Mustangs' way.

Parks had a dominating effort, finishing with 8 aces to lead the Mustangs to a 25-17, 25-10 victory over the Blazers in West Suburban Gold play. The Blazers (18-13, 5-0) had difficulty handling Parks' powerful jump-serve. He started the first-game rally with a kill and three straight aces.

"I started out kind of down, wasn't passing well and knew I had to do something to help out the team, and it was serving," Parks said. "It just happened to be working well, especially in the second set and we all were hitting it well. Once I get into a rhythm, it's hard to get me out of it."

Parks, a second-year varsity player, said he doesn't plan on playing in college. He closed out the conference match with seven straight points, including four aces. Parks added 5 kills and 4 digs and Jack Tischler had 9 kills, 2 aces and 5 digs. Sophomore setter Nathaniel Cossyleon contributed 17 assists.

"We have a habit of having some rough starts, just getting our serve-receive figured out," Downers Grove South coach Kurt Steuer said. "We settled down and got on a roll in our serve-receive and Brandon was doing well back there. It just started clicking and we went on a run."

The Blazers (9-18, 3-2) struggled to get some consistency and with their serve-receive after their strong start. Senior setter Nico Nasti wasn't able to play, forcing Addison Trail coach Chad Grant to play freshman Vincent Calzante at setter. Justin Werderitch led the way with 6 kills, while Joseph Mosny tallied 4 kills. Calzante finished with 10 assists.

"It was Vince's first varsity match tonight, but he did a nice job despite being in a tough spot in an important conference game," Grant said. "We blocked well and had some good touches. Their jump-serves were little overwhelming for us."