Boys volleyball: Seniors lead Glenbard West past Lake Park
There is no senior slump at Glenbard West.
The Glenbard West seniors picked up the scouting mantle. They helped execute a near-perfect game plan as the Hilltoppers knocked off Lake Park 25-14, 25-20 Friday at the semifinals of the Fremd boys volleyball sectional in Palatine.
Top-seeded Glenbard West (35-3) will meet second-seed Palatine in the sectional final at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The seniors, led by Ryan Swartz, who had 9 kills, got together each day to help review the scouting report on Lake Park.
"We have some time," said Swartz, who along with all the other seniors, graduated Thursday night.
"We go over servers and different shots. It is a great way to know the other team and how they prepare and their style."
Ben Harrington, a junior who has been studying for finals, said he and the rest of the underclassmen appreciate the extra work the seniors put in.
"Our seniors don't have school anymore, they have been helping out tremendously with the scouting report," said Harrington, who had 8 kills and 2 aces.
"The seniors are studying volleyball finals. Because of them, I basically knew what to do," Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Mayer added.
"The seniors have really picked up. They come in, they set up. The seniors do everything at the end here. They are in charge. They have time to scout. This is what you expect out of student-athletes."
It was all Hilltoppers in the first game as fifth-seeded Lake Park (25-12) had 7 service errors.
Glenbard West took advantage of a Lake Park team that starts two sophomores and a freshman by also moving the ball around to Swartz, Harrington, Henry Curtis, Diego Guzman and Nicco Cavalcante to build a 13-8 lead. The Hilltoppers then went on a 7-2 run to cruise to the 25-14 victory.
"We got ourselves in deep not playing defense and with service errors," Lake Park coach Brian Fischer said. "It was big lights and lots of pressure. But they found a way to fight through it."
Lake Park fought much better through it in the second match. Andrew Carzolli, Andrew Deardorrf, Ryan Donnelly and Josh Schellinger helped the Lancers force a tie at 15-15.
Glenbard West dug in from there.
The Hilltoppers ran off the next five points with aces from Will Schwegel and Guzman. Lake Park closed to 22-20, but a pair of kills by Swartz and a block kill by Connor Williams secured the win.
"We came out on fire," Giunta-Meyer said. "Both team missed a lot of serves. Once we got in control, we started playing our game. I am super proud of guys and how they were able to stay in control."