Stefanski, WW South overpower Huskies

Updated: May 5, 2011 9:14PM

How much better can Wheaton Warrenville South get?

“I’m pretty sure we have another gear,” WW South coach Bill Schreier said. “I think we can still get to a higher level.”

WW South played at a pretty high level Thursday against visiting Naperville North. Michal Stefanski had 11 kills and a block, Eric Luhrsen and Thomas Jaeschke each had eight kills and David Priest had 27 assists and two kills to power the Tigers to a 25-11, 25-17 victory.

The win moved No. 1-ranked WW South (24-2, 10-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference) closer to its ninth league title in 11 years. The Tigers have a two-game lead on Glenbard East and a three-game advantage over Naperville North with four league dates remaining.

But this team has bigger goals.

“We all obviously have things to work on,” said Stefanski, the 6-foot-6 sophomore from Poland. “I missed a ton of serves. We have to do a better job on defense. Winning against Naperville North is not our ultimate goal.

“We have to come to practice tomorrow and work harder,” he added.

After building leads of 12-4 and 15-5 in Game 1, the Tigers found themselves trailing 10-6 in Game 2. But an ace by Jaeschke got WW South even at 12-all, and a Stefanski kill gave the hosts a 20-15 lead and forced a Naperville North timeout.

A Jaeschke kill capped an 11-3 WW South run that closed out the game and the match.

“We started out slow in the second game,” Stefanski said. “But the good thing is that we are able to play good teams and come over some hard times.”

Shane Witmer led Naperville North (18-8, 7-3) with seven kills and Henry Cheatham added four kills. The Huskies’ 6-6 junior Spencer Sauter, who missed six weeks with an injury, contributed four kills off the bench in Game 2.

“Tonight was a huge disappointment,” Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin said. “We got outplayed and we got outworked. I thought we would play well when challenged and instead we just stepped down.

“Wheaton South blocked well, they played solid defense and they were picking up everything,” he added. “They were finding all the parallel spots. Getting Spencer back should help, but we’re not where we want to be.”

Neither is WW South, yet.

“We are starting to click a little more,” Schreier said. “Obviously, this is an important time to get to that point.”

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