By Phil Brozynski

It’s time to analyze the eight quarterfinalists in the Illinois High School Association’s 17th Boys State Volleyball Tourmament.

Providence
Record: 34-1
Strengths: Celtics have best big man in the tournament in 6-foot-7 Eric Daliege. Great team chemistry with players having spent several years playing together. Great floor leadership in setter Jonathan Gustafson. Good balance on attack with Daliege, Hayden Grove and Dan Ruzich each with more than 200 kills.
Weaknesses: Weak regular-season schedule. Needed three games twice to win against Lincoln-Way Central and was extended to three games by Addison Trail and St. Charles North. Very little depth behind starting six. Second middle is inexperienced 6-5 sophomore Denny Falls.
The skinny: Loss to St. Francis on May 12 took a lot of pressure off Providence to finish unbeaten season. Played solidly in sectional and appear to be on a roll heading into quarterfinals. Daliege has to be the difference against a smaller Glenbrook North team.

Glenbrook North
Record: 26-2
Strengths: Senior-dominated team led by outstanding outside hitter Billy Vydra (242 kills). Did not miss a beat when Tim Bedford was out for seven games midway through the season. Chris Curry and Sajid Bhimani are nice complements to Vydra. Chris Cooper is one of the best coaches in the state and always has his team prepared.
Weaknesses: Spartans have not proven they can win big game, losing in the finals of the Bison Battle against Naperville North and at the Tiger Classic against Wheaton Warrenville South. Have shown some tendency to relax with big lead and play down to competition. Have not played a ranked team since March. Very little height.
The skinny: The Spartans can be very, very good or wildy inconsistent (see Tiger Classic and 31-29, 28-26 road win at Brother Rice). They need to be on top of their game against Providence.

Brother Rice
Record: 28-11
Strengths: Kevin Padden (289 kills) can attack from anywhere. Padden, Steve and Mike Mattes and Kevin Donahue were all part of last year’s No. 1-ranked and unbeaten (heading into the quarterfinals) team. Played a very strong nonconference schedule including Sandburg, Marist, Lake Forest and Glenbrook North.
Weaknesses: This is not your average Brother Rice team. The Crusaders have very few quality wins and bad losses to Oak Park, Joliet and Lincoln-Way East. The Crusaders have been unable to develop much balance behind Padden.
The skinny: Brother Rice took advantage of a weak regional and sectional to reach the quarterfinals. It will be difficult for the Crusaders to get by a taller, more talented WW South.

Wheaton Warrenville South
Record: 31-7
Strengths: Tall, taller, tallest. The Tigers’ can throw up a formidable front wall featuring 6-10 Neill Nystrom, 6-9 Rob Samp, 6-7 Neal Whittington and 6-4 Eric Hardek. Five players have more than 100 kills. WW South also has tradition on its side. They expect to win at this level. Always play one of the toughest schedules around. Wins over Glenbrook North, Buffalo Grove and Glenbard East. Bill Schreier can X and O with the best of them.
Weaknesses: Service errors galore and inconsistency from the underclassmen. In a pivotal DuPage Valley Conference match against Glenbard East on their home floor, the Tigers literally handed the second game to the Rams by hitting all over the court.
The skinny: You cannot discount history and the drive to finish strong of senior Hardek, who still remembers the painful quarterfinal loss to Buffalo Grove in 2006.

Glenbard East
Record: 36-3
Strengths: Dan Mader. The best player in the area leads the team in kills (203) and assists (388). Great offensive balance with Tim Lovik (194 kills), Mark Jones (179) and Peter Dabrowski (153 kills, 122 blocks). Have won 15 in a row since loss to WW South at Downers Grove South. Tough schedule. Wins over Neuqua Valley and WW South (twice). Decent height. Great team chemistry. The Rams love to have fun.
Weaknesses: Occasionally, their defense is suspect. Balls will hit the floor with maddening regularity. Can be extended.
The skinny: There isn’t a better offensive team in the field. The Rams can come at you from any direction. Mader and Jones play off each other well, especially in transition. A Glenbard East vs. Providence final is not out of the question.

Neuqua Valley
Record: 36-3
Strengths: Five players with more than 100 kills led by all-area selection Jake Blackman (294) and Rob Bauer (208). Adequate if not great size. Brian Clark and Derek Menendez can hold their own at the net. Experience from finishing third last year, although got a break by facing (Chicago) Whitney Young in 2007 quarterfinals.
Weaknesses: Schedule. The Upstate Eight is not the DuPage Valley. Too many wins against inferior competition. The Wildcats lost twice at Benet to St. Francis and Naperville Central. Needed to fight off match point in game two to get past Central in the sectional final and just got by Joliet Catholic in the regional final.
The skinny: Neuqua took a game off Glenbard East at the Springfest tournament in early April, so there should be no surprises in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats showed they can deal with adversity, but upsetting Glenbard East will be a tall order.

Oak Park
Record: 17-22
Strengths: Sophomore setter Tim Schmidt will be a good one by the time his high school career is over. Junior Mark Brady is solid on the outside (219 kills), and Charlie Kahn and Blake Austin can plug the middle. Don August has done a good job rebuilding the program. A strong pre-tournament schedule (Naperville Central, St. Francis, Glenbrook North) helped Oak Park win the traditionally-weakest sectional in the state
Weaknesses: Oak Park has not shown it can beat good teams on a consistent basis, going 0-5 at the Tiger Classic in March and 2-3 at the Glenbrook North invite (beating Nazareth and York) in early May. Huskies lost five of their last six regular-season games. Youth.
The skinny: This is an experience-building year for the Huskies, who have only four seniors on the roster.

Buffalo Grove
Record: 29-5
Strengths: Six-foot-6 Joe Ascher (356 kills) and junior outside Chris Falknor are a solid 1-2 punch and setter Tom Angerame (830 assists) is experienced and savvy. Middle Jim Wizniak (213 kills) has to be respected. Matt Bronson (561 digs) is one of the better liberos around. Coach Matt Aiello never lets his team get down emotionally.
Weaknesses: A fourth quality tournament would have helped prepare the Bison for what should be a difficult semifinal. By getting the No. 1 seed at sectional, they avoided having to play Lake Forest a third time. The Bison rely heavily on Ascher, and if he is off they could struggle.
The skinny: The Bison should advance to the semifinals and walk away with a trophy. Anything more is a bonus.

Posted by Back Row at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Phil Brozynski

This is a story about Chicago Corliss and its decision to play Brother Rice in a boys volleyball regional quarterfinal Monday.

A story by Tina Akouris in Monday’s Sun-Times related how some of the Chicago Public Schools are pulling out of the state softball tournament because they figure they won’t be competitive against some of the suburban schools. And the powers in the Public League are OK with this.

According to Tina’s story, Public League director of sports administration Calvin Davis is encouraging schools to back out of the softball tournament to avoid embarrassment.

I guess things have changed in the city. When I was growing up on the south side of Chicago and somebody challenged you to something even as innocent as a checkers match, you were too embarrassed NOT to show up.

But if the Public Schools want to pick and choose which tournaments they play, then I have a suggestion for schools scheduled to play Public League teams in one of the sports in which they do excel – basketball.

Next year, if it looks as if Marshall is going to walk off with another Class 3A title in boys basketball and North Lawndale is going to run roughshod over the overmatched 2A field, just don’t show up.

After all, why should Providence St. Mel have to absorb a 103-38 licking by Lawndale? Why should Holy Trinity have to stand for an 87-46 flogging by the Phoenix? And why shouldn’t Walter Lutheran walk away from a 72- 40 whipping.

Class 3A boys champion Marshall was not adverse to “embarrassing” its opponents last year, either, unmercifully whipping Wheaton Academy 89-42 and knocking off North Chicago 84-54 en route to the 3A title.

I guess it’s OK, however, if it’s the Public Schools doing the humiliatin’, even if it’s to each other. Why else would this little “editorial” appear on the IHSA ScoreZone boys volleyball page underneath the heading, “At Chicago (Lincoln Park),” referencing Orr’s decision not to show up for a regional quarterfinal against Crane on Monday.

"Chicago Orr forfeited. There was no common courtesy of a phone indicating that they would not be present.”

I guess they were too embarrassed to call.

So kudos to Corliss, which could have taken Davis’ advice and not shown up Monday to play Brother Rice. But they did, and they lost.

But they're winners in my book.

Posted by Back Row at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Phil Brozynski

Top-ranked Providence won the Deerfield round-robin tournament Saturday, but it wasn’t easy. The Celtics had not played in 10 days and the rustiness showed against a very strong field that included Deerfield and Rusty Lavaja and improving St. Charles North team.

"This was a tough day for us,” Providence coach Cindy Olczyk said. “We worked hard to get back in sync with our playing and our efforts paid off. Our defense did a great job of keeping us in some amazing and very tight games.”

Providence (23-0, 9-0 in the Catholic League) got a big lift from Brian Urchell, who stepped in after the Celtics’ starting libero, John Cichy, was injured.

“Our three captains, (Dan) Ruzich, (Eric) Daliege and (Jonathan) Gustafson, did an excellent job keeping their teammates focused and driving hard to win in each match,” Olczyk said. “We are very proud of the entire team for playing so wll at this tournament."

Providence defeated Addison Trail, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20; St. Charles North 19-25, 25-20, 26-24; Joliet 25-14, 25-20; Libertyville 25-10, 25-23; and Deerfield 23-25, 25-16, 25-20.

Gustafson led the Celtics with 173 assists, 51 service points, 10 aces and five kills; Daliege added 44 service points, two aces, 36 kills and 11 blocks; Ruzich had 44 kills, 168 digs and five blocks; Hayden Grove had 61 kills and nine blocks; and Chase Pavlick contributed 102 digs and 14 kills.

Providence faces another tough test Monday when it travels to Wheaton to take on St. Francis, which won the Lakefront Challenge at Latin on Saturday to improve to 29-3.

◘ Marist fans are holding their breath regarding the status of two of the RedHawks starters, setter Ryan Thomas and middle Matt Jercich. Both were injured during Saturday’s Richards Invitational.

Thompson suffered what appeared to be a serious wrist injury during game two of the RedHawks’ loss to Lake Forest in the championship match, and Jercich went down in serious pain with an ankle injury early in game three.

Six-foot-4 sophomore Dave Nelson stepped in for Jercich and delivered three kills and a block in the third game, but Thomas’ absence forced coach Bob St. Leger to employ 6-6 sophomore Joe Smalzer as his second setter.

◘ Glenbard East will try to wrap up its first-ever DuPage Valley Conference title this week when it hosts West Chicago on Tuesday and visits Naperville Central on Thursday.

Glenbard East can do no worse than tie for the title no matter what happens. But the Rams can win the title outright with a win over West Chicago or a loss by Central at Wheaton South on Tuesday.

Posted by Back Row at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Phil Brozynski

Prospect is just 2-6 in the Mid-Suburban League East, but that did not prevent the Knights from taking Neuqua Valley to three games Monday in Naperville.

Neuqua Valley (29-3) survived the threat to earn a 25-20, 24-26, 25-20 win in the annual nonconference match. Rob Bauer led the Wildcats with 12 kills, Jake Blackman added nine kills, six digs and a block, Sean Harmon had 36 assists and Collin Adler and Brian Clark each added seven kills.

Prospect (20-11) trailed 18-13 in game three, but an ace by Ben Moxley pulled the Knights within 22-20. A kill by Neuqua Valley middle Derek Menendez off an overpass and an ace by Clark allowed Neuqua Valley to escape with the win.

“We need to play more consistent defense,” Blackman said. “Our blocking was there and our offense was there. Everything was working for us. Once we get our defense and passing down, everything else should be OK.”

Prospect got 16 kills from 6-2 senior outside Scott Pickle and 11 kills and two blocks from 6-5 junior Kevin Reed, who has been the Knights’ most consistent player. Reed did not miss a serve in 11 attempts and added an ace.

“Our offensive game plan broke down a little bit tonight,” Prospect coach Mike Riedy said. “We let them run too many points with the serve.”

◘ Sandburg went just 2-3 at last weekend’s Lincoln-Way East tournament with eight seniors missing due to prom. Nevertheless, the Eagles’ junior varsity team nearly knocked off Lyons in pool play Friday, falling 25-23, 25-23, and extended No. 1 seed Naperville Central to three games in the silver division semifinals.

Brother Rice continues to struggle, losing to Joliet and Lake Forest in pool play and Lincoln-Way East in a silver division semifinal. Naperville Central also struggled all weekend, going 1-2 in pool play (losing to a short-handed Stagg team).

Despite its poor performance in pool play, Naperville Central managed to win the silver division with wins over the Sandburg “JV” and Lincoln-Way East.

◘ The seeds and pairings for the 2008 boys state volleyball tournament were released by the Illinois High School Association last week, and although No. 1 Providence and No. 2 Glenbard East are in opposite brackets, neither team has a free ride to the state finals.

Providence would have to get past Lincoln-Way Central in the sectional semifinals, either No. 6 Sandburg or Marist in the sectional finals and No. 3 Glenbrook North in the quarterfinals just to earn a semifinal berth against defending state champion and No. 4-ranked Wheaton Warrenville South.

All Glenbard East has to do is beat Addison Trail in a sectional semifinal, either Lyons or Hinsdale Central in the sectional final and Neuqua Valley in the state quarterfinals to reach the semifinals against either Buffalo Grove or Warren.

Meanwhile, Brother Rice’s current struggles have created hope among the teams assigned to the Mt. Carmel sectional, particularly No. 2 seed Oak Lawn, which won all three of its matches Saturday at Lincoln-Way East behind Randy Hansen.

Whoever wins the Mt. Carmel sectional would face WW South in the state quarterfinals, providing the defending state champions can get past St. Francis in the sectional finals

◘ George Mason’s Kyle Gramit, a 2005 graduate of Naperville North High School and a former Sun-Times All-Area selection, was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Second Team.

The 6-foot-5 opposite hitter ranked among the nation’s leaders in kills, points, blocks and aces per game. Gramit had 28 kills against New Jersey Institute of Technology and on March 7 led to Patriots to a 3-1 victory over Penn State, handing the 2008 national champions their only loss of the season.

Gramit was the only Illinois player among the 20 All-America selections.

Posted by Back Row at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)