By Phil Brozynski

Lyons’ Andrew Gulik has been around long enough to know that people don’t remember what you do in April. But beating your probable sectional semifinal opponent sure beats the alternative.

Gulik, a 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter who is enjoying his third year on varsity, smashed 15 kills and fellow outside Justas Pagojus added eight kills and two blocks to power the Lions to a 25-18, 25-23 win over Hinsdale Central Tuesday in LaGrange.

“This was a huge step for us,” said Gulik, whose team lost to Hinsdale Central twice in 2007. “It should give us some confidence. Last year when we played them in the sectional, things didn’t go our way. But if we see them again this year, this should help.”

Hinsdale Central (21-4) fell behind midway through game one and could not recover. Three errors, including one of eight service errors in the match by the Red Devils, contributed to a 8-3 run by the Lions.

Lyons (16-3) built a 20-14 lead in game two, but the Red Devils rallied behind a backrow kill from Pat Dodd (six kills) and an ace by Peter Netisingha (15 assists) to pull even at 22. Down 24-23, Hinsdale Central had two chances to pull even again, but could not convert.

A kill by Gulik ended the game and the match and left Hinsdale Central coach Len Serwat to lament his team’s woes at the service line.

“They played better than we did,” he said.”We didn’t play our best and they played very well. We missed too many serves. We played hard, but we didn’t play very sharp. We’re better than we showed.”

Clay Scott added 16 assists for Lyons.

“Except for a few points, I thought we played consistently,” Lyons coach Joann Pyritz said. “I thought our outside hitters did a good job hitting over their shorter blocks. I thought we managed the match well.”

Lyons, whose loss to Deerfield prevented it from competing in the gold division at Downers Grove South last weekend, finds itself in a similar situation this weekend at Lincoln-Way East. This time, the Lions must get past No. 5 Sandburg (20-4) to reach the gold division.

◘ Speaking of the Lincoln-Way East tournament, three of the four four-team pools could provide some fireworks.

Previously-ranked but always dangerous Naperville North and Lake Forest will go head-to-head in Pool A, Lincoln-Way Central and Naperville Central will meet Friday at 5:30 p.m. for the right to advance from Pool B, and Sandburg and Lyons will meet Friday at 5:30 p.m. to emerge from Pool D.

Brother Rice, which had lost three consecutive matches following Monday’s defeat to Oak Park, should get back on track in Pool C against Oak Lawn, Joliet and Maine East.

◘ Headscratcher? Carmel (19-9) had won 11 consecutive matches before going 2-3 at last weekend’s Glenbrook North invitational where it lost to Libertyville, Vernon Hills and host Glenbrook North.

However, Carmel returned to its winning ways Monday with a gutty 20-25, 25-20, 26-24 win over visiting Warren (28-3), which had not lost to an in-state opponent since early in the season against Highland Park.

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By Phil Brozynski

Not every great player can be found on a team that is having a hugely successful season in terms of wins and losses, and not every set of brothers have the opportunity to share the pinnacle of sports with each other.

Jay Petty, a 6-foot-5 outside hitter who has committed to Lewis University, is the top player on a Downers Grove North team that improved to 4-15 by going 3-2 at its own tournament including a 25-6, 25-21 win over Joliet Catholic in the third-place match.

The Trojans are a young and inexperienced team that lost eight seniors from last year’s 24-13 regional finalist and whose second-best player may be Jay Petty’s younger brother Greg, a 6-4 freshman.

Despite the opportunity to play with his younger brother, the team’s lack of success has not been easy for Jay.

“It’s hard,” Petty said. “It’s hard to say how difficult it’s been.”

Jay Petty plays for Sports Performance during the club season where winning is almost taken for granted.

“At Sports Performance, you’re expected to win and win big,” he said. “Losing almost never happens.”

But the young Trojans may have turned the corner over the weekend.

Downers North defeated Homewood-Flossmoor and Schaumburg in pool play, then after losing to Joliet Catholic 21-25, 25-18, 25-16 in pool play, turned the tables on the Hilltoppers in the third-place match.

The Trojans also took Glenbard East to 27-25 in the first game of their championship semifinal.

“I think we’re putting it together,” Petty said. “A lot of our guys’ experience on the court is very limited. So this is a huge step for us.”

Meanwhile, watching his younger brother develop has been a bright spot for Petty.

“It’s fun for me to see him learn and get better,” Petty said. “He’s going to be a great player. This is a great learning experience for a freshman.”

Downers North coach Karen Eder has also been pleased with the development of the younger Petty.

“He’s a sponge,” she said. “He is the most coachable, most responsive player I’ve ever coached. He’s going to be good.”

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By Phil Brozynski

One of the most eagerly-awaited moments of the spring sports season took place Monday – the Illinois High School Association’s “rolling of the peas.”

The “rolling of the peas” determine the bracket position for each of the eight state final quarterfinal qualifiers. In boys volleyball, the “peas” created three potentially brutal quarterfinal matches.

The first three quarterfinals on May 30 could look something like this: Providence, Marist or Sandburg vs. Glenbrook North; Brother Rice vs. Wheaton Warrenville South; and Glenbard East or Hinsdale Central vs. Neuqua Valley, Naperville North or Naperville Central.

The final quarterfinal of the day will feature the winner of the St. Ignatius Sectional (possibly 2007 quaterfinalist Whitney Young) vs. the winner of the Stevenson Sectional (most likely either Buffalo Grove or Warren).

The Lincoln-Way Central Sectional (Providence, Marist, Sandburg, Andrew and Lincoln-Way Central) and the Naperville North Sectional (Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Naperville Central, Benet, Waubonsie Valley) are easily the most loaded fields in this year’s tournament.

On the other side of the coin, Brother Rice should have an easy time getting through the Mt. Carmel Sectional, and Young could only have to contend with Oak Park, St. Patrick and Fenwick to advance from St. Ignatius.

◘ Evanston coach Mike McDermott would like the see the North Shore develop into a volleyball stronghold much like the western suburbs.

“Glenbrook North has a strong program and New Trier is always pretty good, but I’d like to see the North Shore become as deep and strong as the western suburbs with the DuPage Valley Conference and all the other great teams down there,” McDermott said.

McDermott brought his Evanston team to Lisle last weekend to play a nonconference match with Benet. Although the Wildkits lost 25-22, 25-20, McDermott has a couple of pieces to build around in 6-8 junior John Prout and sophomore outside hitter Charles Hopson.

Paul Springer, a 6-5 senior and one of the best players on the North Shore, led the Wildkits (3-5) with seven kills and three aces in the match.

◘ In personnel matters, Kathleen Russell, who led Barrington to the state championship match and a 33-3 record in 2005, is now a varsity assistant coach at Warren for head coach Yun Chen.

At Benet, former Naperville Central standout Mickey Perillo is serving as an assistant coach for Amy Van Eekeren, who was Perillo’s high school coach.

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By Phil Brozynski

Most coaches agree that it’s not if you lose, but when.

Only three teams have won a state title with a perfect record in 16 years of the boys volleyball state tournament – Richards in 1992 and Wheaton Warrenville South in 2001 and 2004.

So losing a match or two or three (although no team has won a state title with more than nine losses) during the regular season seems to have little bearing on postseason success.

Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza watched his team suffer its first loss of the season Saturday at the 10th Annual Springfest Boys Volleyball Tournament in Lombard. The Wildcats dropped a gutwrenching 25-22, 28-30, 25-22 decision to host Glenbard East in a semifinal.

Mendoza was more upset with his team’s performance from the service line than with the loss. Neuqua Valley (8-1) won the second game despite making eight service errors in its final 11 service attempts, then lost the deciding third game with a service error on match point.

“Mentally, those kill you,” Mendoza said. “There are times in a match when you have to get the ball in play. You don’t give yourself an opportunity to win when you serve the ball into the net.”

Neuqua had won its first seven matches including big wins over Naperville North, St. Charles North and St. Francis before Saturday’s loss to Glenbard East.

“It’s nice to get it out of the way,” Mendoza said.

Glenbard East (7-1) won the tournament for the fourth year in a row. The Rams regained the services of 6-foot-6 junior middle Peter Dabrowski for the championship match after he missed the team’s first seven matches for an athletic code violation.

One of the matches Dabrowski missed was a DuPage Valley Conference loss to Glenbard North.

Somebody asked Glenbard East coach Marci Maier if her team’s marathon win over Neuqua Valley had any significance coming on the heels of that loss.

“One game is not any more important than any other,” she said. “Every game is just practice until you get into the playoffs.”

◘ Look for Lake Forest to be a factor in the playoffs and the North Suburban Conference this spring.

The Scouts, under the direction of co-coaches Ray Werner and Joe De Rosa, reached the finals of the Springfest tournament by defeating Mid-Suburban League hopefuls Schaumburg and Conant.

Lake Forest (6-2) dropped the championship match to Glenbard East despite 11 kills from junior Larry Wrather. Wrather and middle hitters Alex Baraniewski, Ben Rockwell and Greg Warfield are the Scouts’ top weapons.

“It was a different feeling today than when we lost to Stevenson (earlier in the week),” Werner said. “It was fun to watch the level of play today. Larry at times is unstoppable. I enjoy watching him compete.”

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