Boys volleyball: Benet pleased with 6th place finish at Tiger Classic

Benet had a strong showing in the Tiger Classic Invitational held at Wheaton Warrenville South last week. Glenbrook North, the defending state champion, won the Gold Bracket, but the Redwings (10-5) placed sixth.

Sophomore outside hitter Dominic Krzeczkowski had a big showing in the tourney, ending with 32 kills on 57 attempts to lift his season total to 85 kills. Senior setter James Buffardi raised his season total to 233 assists. Kovas Neverauskas, a senior outside hitter, is making a big contribution for Benet, racking up 96 kills, 16 aces and 66 digs.

"Our team is very happy with our performance at the Tiger Classic this past weekend," Benet coach Jeff Steinberg said. "It showed us we can compete among the top teams, and also showed us what we need to work on moving forward. The boys are very motivated to get to work in the gym this upcoming week. Our first goal was to make it into the gold pool after a poor start to the Marist Invite at the start of the season where we ended up in silver and won the silver championship.

"We wanted to see where we fell among the top teams in the state, and even though we went 1-2 on Saturday, we went three sets with Barrington and Lincoln Way East ... It's funny how going into it, we would have been happy with a sixth-place finish, but after competing against these teams, it was clear our guys felt they could have done better if we cleaned up a few parts of our game. I am glad that are not willing to settle for sixth. James Buffardi did a great job spreading out the offense and getting all of our hitters involved. We have been working on this, and it paid off this weekend. Dominic Krzeczkowski was unstoppable this past weekend."

Through 15 matches, senior outside hitter Drew Rogers, a Maryville recruit a four-year varsity player and a captain, has been a force for the Redwings, compiling 100 kills, 18 blocks, 51 digs and 10 aces.

"(Drew) is a great all-around player who brings a wealth of knowledge to the team and great ball control," Steinberg said. "Dominic brings a lot of size to the right side that causes trouble for opponents to hit around. He started last year as a freshman, and his growth in 1 year has been huge. He went from being a passive freshman, to a dominate pin that the top teams have had issues blocking. James has been working hard this season connecting with his hitters. It takes time to find that connection with people who you have not been playing with due to our team being made up of guys on several different club teams. He studies film regularly and our offense has made drastic improvements from the start of the season."

Downers Grove North update:

Downers Grove North has won seven of its first 10 matches for a promising start. Led by outside hitter Ian Schuller, the Trojans are building toward a memorable playoff run. Schuller, a Lindenwood recruit, leads the team in kills (102), blocks (16) and aces (8). Junior Theo Pawlik has 55 kills to go along with the solid play of Cooper Hansen, Grant Bowers, Ryan Stopka and Matt Landin to go with libero Lincoln Geist and defensive specialists Gavin Reina and Wilson Kramnic. Setters Grant Henderson (141 assists) and Ben Koncel (75 assists) have also been key contributors.

"We have a lot of talent and ability with an outstanding right-side hitter in Ian, but given that volleyball is the ultimate team sport, we can't be successful without a balanced team," Downers Grove North coach Mark Wasik said. "Our first three losses were in the first week of the season and to top-tier teams. We recently avenged a three-set loss to Benet by beating them in two straight sets a week later. "We also defeated a solid Sandburg team in a three-set marathon. This team has been a joy to coach as collectively. They're dialed in every practice and are playing for each other."

Downers Grove South update:

Meanwhile, Downers Grove South is playing high-level volleyball, winning 14 of its first 16 matches. Outside hitter Matt Molnar, middle hitter Mason Kolar and setters Colin Mason and Nick Koch have led the way for the Mustangs.

"We're still looking for consistency in our level of play for entire matches," Downers Grove South coach Kurt Steuer said. "At times we struggle offensively to be a sideout team, which is something we are working on. As a team, we don't rely on one or two players stepping up. The expectation is that everyone on the court knows their jobs and execute them to the best of their ability. Matt Molnar has done a nice job stepping into the outside hitter position for us this year and still continuing to work on his improvements offensively.

"Mason Kolar's athleticism and quickness allows him to be a part of our offense, not just on serve receive but also on transition plays. Colin Mason and Nick Koch have both a nice job spreading the ball across the net and running our offense."

York's young team winning big:

York entered the season with tempered expectations due to several young players stepping into bigger roles. So far, the Dukes (14-2, 1-1) have proved to one of the teams to watch in the West Suburban Silver Conference.

"The boys have exceeded my expectations up to this point," York coach Kenneth Dowdy said. "We've beaten the teams we should and have played well against some teams that rank in the top 20 in the state. Our serve and serve receive has been outstanding and obviously that leads to more wins. We've been able to keep teams out of system offensively and our block has been very good. Our defense has been outstanding. It's the best defensive team I've ever coached.

"We came into the season with zero expectations and the boys have exceeded it already. We have the potential to be very good."

Senior libero Jake Reishus is one of the leaders on the team. As the only returning starter, Reishus is a consistent player who has helped lead the younger player. Last year, he had 60 kills and 124 digs. This season, Reishus has 206 digs.

"Obviously, Jake Reishus is the key to our team," Dowdy said. "He's the best player I've ever coached, by far. He can pretty much play any position for us. His serve receive is insane. He puts up "dimes" consistently and gets touches on balls defensively that I've never seen before. He's just so good. Our middle hitters, Logan Rice and Tommy Vlahos, have really been heating up. They're getting good touches on the block and putting balls down. Zach Brown and Jack Zitek are doing such a great job running our offense. I have to remind myself often that they are only sophomores but they are killing it. Our pin hitters, Michael Rimington, Luke Shorter and Wes Krissinger have been outstanding and have really helped us pull out some matches this season."