Romeoville rebounds to top Lemont
Updated: May 23, 2011 9:47PM
BOLINGBROOK — Shortly after Debra Fehrenbacher asked for more intensity from her Romeoville volleyball team, the Spartans began to deliver on her request.
Losing 10-5 in the first game Monday night against Lemont, Romeoville rebounded for a 25-19, 26-24 victory in a Bolingbrook Regional quarterfinal.
“It was slow and rough, but we pulled it out,’’ team captain Nick Oderio said. “In the end, that’s what matters and we’re moving on. Hopefully, we don’t look like that (today).’’
Romeoville will face Plainfield North, which advanced to the semifinals with a 25-11, 28-26 victory over Lockport.
Oderio (6 kills), Deonte Scroggins (5 kills, 3 aces), Wayne Fitts (15 assists), John Richmond (3 kills, 3 block kills) and Damitri Taylor (7 assists, 3 kills) were the main reasons the season didn’t end for Romeoville (16-16-1).
“We had a couple of good hits that got us going a little bit and we put some balls away,’’ Oderio said. “We had a couple of nice little runs. We ended up having to fight, but we pulled it out.’’
“We didn’t play at our level,’’ Fehrenbacher said. “This was not indicative of how this team can play. We play with a lot more fire, at a lot faster pace than this was tonight.’’
Lemont (9-18) was led by Kevin Leadley (18 assists, 8 digs, 2 aces) and Jeff Gurrister (7 kills, 9 digs, ace).
Plainfield North (27-4) rolled in the first game, going up 16-6 and 22-9 before winning by 14 points. But the second game was a struggle for North.
“They (Lockport) were a different team in Game 2,’’ Plainfield North coach Kevin Vesper said. “We did make a lot of mental errors in game two. If we do that (today) we might not come out with a victory.’’
Jack Krieger (7 kills, 9 digs) had the match-ending kill. Also contributing were Matt Guerrieri (20 assists), Jake Barber (6 kills), Peter Bednarz (5 kills) and Eric Rash (7 digs).
“The first game we started off strong, we didn’t let them get back in the game,’’ Krieger said. “The second game we were a little sluggish. We couldn’t get our digs, a few errors here and there.’’
Lockport coach Austin Lindley said afterward he didn’t care about statistics, but praised four-year starter Drew Dicksen as team leader for the Porters (9-15).
Plainfield East will face top-seeded Neuqua Valley today in the other semifinal after a 25-22, 25-23 victory over Bolingbrook. Plainfield East (16-11) was led by A.J. Rodriguez (10 kills, 5 block kills) and Andre Flores (8 kills).
The Bolingbrook championship match is Wednesday.
© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment