Boys volleyball: Warren edges Vernon Hills for 1st win
After losing to New Trier in their 2022 season opener on Monday, the Warren boys volleyball team was ready to get in the win column Wednesday evening at Vernon Hills.
Both sets were pretty close from start to finish, but the visiting Blue Devils got the job done in the end as they posted a 25-20 victory in set one before winning the match by a 25-22 margin over the Cougars in the second set.
The serving of Alex Ochoa set the tone for Warren (1-1) early on in both sets as Ochoa staked the Blue Devils to a quick 6-0 advantage over Vernon Hills (1-1) in the first set.
The resilient Cougars gradually fought their way back into the first set as they cut Warren's lead to 20-19 before Vernon Hills' David Wu served to the Blue Devils.
But that proved to be as close as the Cougars would get as a big spike by Warren's Joshua Weyerhaeuser (6 kills, 4 digs) boosted the Blue Devils' lead back to 21-19.
From there, a spike by Warren's Nate Everly (3 kills) made the score 24-20 before an ace by junior teammate Alec Dangel (8 digs) accounted for the final score of 25-20 in the opener.
"We played better than our Monday night match. Vernon Hills is a strong team, and they just kept pushing back," said Warren coach Yun Chen. "Our kids received well in the second set, we passed well, and (Vernon Hills) coach (Chris) Curry always gets them ready to play."
Ochoa's serving gave the Blue Devils an early 5-0 lead in set two before strong serving by Vernon Hills' Kavin Manivasagam deadlocked the score at 10-10.
The set remained close the whole way as a kill by Vernon Hills' Erik Giezycki (9 kills) cut Warren's lead to 21-20 late in the match.
But the Blue Devils were able to hold off the pesky Cougars down the stretch despite another spike by Giezycki cutting the lead to 24-22 to keep the Cougars' hopes alive.
But a service attempt by Vernon Hills went out of bounds resulting in the 25-22 victory and the match win for Warren.
"We didn't pass as well as we needed to. They are a tough team to block, and we were not where we needed to be," said Vernon Hills coach Chris Curry. "Erik (Giezycki) is a really active hitter. He's been on the varsity since he was a freshman, and he's going to Long Island University to play the same position."
Senior Ben Conley had 6 kills and 3 digs for the Blue Devils while Ochoa had 14 assists. Nick Crisanti led the Cougars with 10 assists while teammate Evan Hessel had 8 digs. David Rzepa added 4 kills and 2 blocks for Vernon Hills while teammate Michael Collins had 2 kills.
"It definitely wasn't easy, but the team was playing well and our blocking was good," said Ochoa. "It was very close the whole game. That was very scary, and minimizing our errors was the key. We played a lot better than Monday night."