Boys Volleyball: Balanced Downers South stuns Glenbard West

Updated: May 3, 2012 9:10PM

Downers Grove South has been riding on a bit of a bumpy road since winning the Springfest tournament at Glenbard East almost a month ago. The Mustangs lost at Addison Trail, fell to Downers North in the finals at the Schaumburg invite and were upset in pool play at their own tournament.

But the Mustangs found the going a little smoother Thursday against powerful Glenbard West.

Andy Kryk had nine kills, Greg Garro added eight kills and three blocks, and Nick Timreck contributed six kills and two blocks as the Mustangs stunned No. 6 Glenbard West 25-18, 25-19 in a West Suburban Conference crossover match in Downers Grove.

After falling behind 3-1 in Game 1, Downers South (19-7) never trailed by more than a point the rest of the match. The Mustangs led 16-15 in the first set when Kryk’s roll shot and a net violation capped a short 5-2 run that gave them a 21-17 lead.

In Game 2, a kill by Scotty Thomas (four kills, ace) gave Glenbard West (19-4) its last lead of the match at 5-4. The Mustangs broke a 15-15 tie with an 8-2 run featuring kills from Timreck, John Hanek, Garro and Kryk.

“We haven’t been on our game the last couple of weeks,” Garro said. “But we all came together as a team tonight, had a lot of intensity and said ‘Let’s upset these guys.’

“This is a good start for us for the rest of the season,” he added. “If we play this intense and play together as a team, we can play with anybody in the state.”

Downers South coach Kurt Steuer also liked what he saw.

“We came out with a lot of energy and we had a lot of fun,” he said. “We also showed a lot of confidence, which is good to see. We’re bringing that energy every day in practice, which is a big thing for us.

“We still have some tough matches left, but I think we’re moving forward and getting better each time out,” he added.

Downers South also got 13 assists from CJ Blaha, 11 assists from Jordan Pawlicki and three kills from 6-4 sophomore Mike Schmitt, who has regained his starting role after sitting for a few weeks during midseason.

“He’s (Schmitt) done some nice things for us,” Steuer said. “He’s putting the ball down from the outside.”

Ian Lawson led Glenbard West with eight kills and a block, and Alex Emanuel had 16 assists and a kill. But nobody else had more than two kills for the Hilltoppers, who were coming off a big win over WSC division rival Downers North on Tuesday.

“If I had to pick and choose between losing to Downers North or Downers South this week, I would take this loss over that one,” Glenbard West’s Alex Kahn said. “They (Downers South) came out and had a real good game. We played as a team, but we didn’t play as well as we could have.”

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