Villa Park, IL —
What looked like a Glenbard East rout turned into another three-game classic between the Rams and Wheaton Warrenville South Tuesday night.
And this time, the Tigers showed why they are arguably the top boys volleyball program in the state, overcoming that deficit and an 8-4 Glenbard East lead in Game Two to advance to the state quarterfinals for the eighth time in the last nine years with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-18 victory in the Willowbrook Sectional final.
WWS (35-4) will face Neuqua Valley in the first state quarterfinal at 1 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School. The Wildcats, who took third in state last year, steamrolled O'Fallon 25-10, 25-11 to win the Bolingbrook Sectional.
Glenbard East (36-3), the sectional's top seed, found itself in a 16-9 Game 1 hole before making an incredible comeback, tying it 20-20 on four consecutive points, and soon closing it out.
The Rams carried that momentum into Game 2, eventually grabbing that four-point lead before the second-seeded Tigers took control of the match. The teams traded points and Glenbard East held a 13-12 lead before WWS scored four of the next five points and never trailed again. Glenbard East did manage to tie the game at 17 but a big kill from 6-foot-10 senior Neill Nystrom (team-high 17 kills) put the Rams permanently in the rear-view mirror.
Glenbard East trailed from the start of Game 3 but strung three consecutive points together to cut the deficit to 9-8 but was never able to do so the rest of the way.
The reason Nystrom, Kevin Mueller (13 kills) and Eric Luhrsen (nine kills) had so many high-quality shots at the net was the masterful play of senior setter Joe Kelly, who put up a career-high 44 assists.
What also helped in a big way was a tighter Tiger defense, led by twin brothers Eric and Matt Wilkins, who collected 11 and eight digs, respectively.
"We ended up giving away Game One -- it was a carbon copy of Friday night," said WWS head coach Bill Schreier of his team's win over Hinsdale Central in the sectional semifinals. "But this group is battle-tested with a lot of senior leadership (eight seniors on roster) and there's something to be said for that. It's exciting to be there (state quarterfinals) but the road certainly doesn't get any easier."
