Boys Volleyball: Mike Simmons’ kills lead Waubonsie Valley past Joliet West

Updated: April 3, 2012 10:59PM

Sophomore Mike Simmons had back-to-back kills to ignite an 8-1 run to close out Game 1, and it was all uphill from there as No. 10 Waubonsie Valley (12-2) played the rude host to Joliet West 25-16, 25-9 Tuesday in Aurora.

Joliet West (5-6-1) led Game 1 13-12 on a kill by 6-foot-11 outside hitter Marlon Johnson before the Warriors turned up the heat.

“I don’t know if we were trying to do too much, I don’t know if it was a question of us not respecting them or coming in flat after a big weekend and being excited that we did well in both tournaments, but once we started to execute we were fine,” Waubonsie coach Al Lagger said.

Junior setter Luke Furman led the Warriors with 12 assists, two aces and a kill, Simmons added six kills, a block and an ace and Mike Storm contributed six kills and two aces.

“Maybe we were trying to do a little too much early, trying to hit the ball too hard, doing too much we don’t do normally,” Furman said. “We needed to slow it down a little bit and keep the ball in play.

“They really gave us a problem at the net,” he added. “They jump really high and were hitting over our blockers. But our defense stepped up and we were able to get the sets where we needed to, get the hits down and pull out the game.”

Joliet West, which finished 2-1-1 at the West Aurora tournament last weekend, got three kills each from Johnson, Brian Lyman and Kyle Credle, and two kills and two blocks from Brian Edwards.

But coach Jason Herrmann could not explain the Tigers’ troubles from the 33rd points of the first game to the end of the match.

“I don’t know,” he said. “A couple of lift calls...they have some nice jump-servers, but I thought we handled them pretty well the first 15, 16 points of Game 1. In Game 2 we just didn’t want to come out and play.

“We do have a couple of guys who have some experience on the varsity level,” he said. “You would expect some of those guys to step up and make better plays, better choices. Sometimes, that’s the way it goes.”

Furman said the Warriors will have to perform better when they host Hinsdale Central on Wednesday.

“You have to come out and play the best you can every time,” he said. “We’ll definitely have to come out strong tomorrow because we’re facing a tough opponent.”

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