Bengals get defensive vs. T.F. co-op

Dylan Maziur of Oak Forest spikes one over the net against T.F. co-op.
(Art Vassy/SouthtownStar)

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Oak Forest denied everything T.F co-op hit its way Tuesday, earning a dominant nonconference win at home.

Cody Moss led Oak Forest with five kills and four aces, and the Bengals defeated the Meteors 25-10, 25-11.

The Bengals (2-1) nearly went the whole match without allowing a kill or ace. All 10 of the Meteors' points in the first game came on Oak Forest errors or violations.

Mike Quinlan and Drace Talley (three service points) each tallied a kill in the latter stages of Game 2 for T.F. co-op (1-6).

As impressive as the Bengals' defense was, Oak Forest's serving was even better. The Bengals finished with 12 aces, including four by setter T.J. Ryan.

"We really wanted to serve tough tonight, and we did," Oak Forest coach Amanda Brown said. "We had a lot of aces and we were able to keep our offense in sync and get a lot of people involved. Now we just have to be able to do that against all our opponents and not just some."

Oak Forest was great from the start. After an error gave the first point of the match to T.F. co-op, the Bengals rattled off eight straight points behind Moss' powerful serve. The junior had three aces and two kills during the stretch.

"We've been working on serving a lot in practice and we were definitely better tonight," Moss said. "I just try to go up and do my best."

The Meteors closed the gap to 8-3, but Oak Forest went on another long run – an 11-2 surge – to push the lead to 19-5 and put the first game away.

Serving was key during the stretch as Bill Sullivan and Scott England (four kills) each had two aces.

The second game went much the same with the Bengals jumping out to leads of 9-1 and 17-7 and not looking back.

Brown was impressed with her team's ability to not let up in the match.

"We are a young team and we've been a little inconsistent," she said. "We need to put some solid games together in a row. We've played where we'll get leads and then let teams get right back in it – a lot of back-and-forth games. It was nice to see us keep a good lead and be the first to five, the first to 10, etc. tonight. That¹s something we really stress."

Moss agreed that developing a killer instinct is a key for the Bengals.

"That¹s exactly it," he said. "We have to work on our intensity and just finishing games off. Our team chemistry is getting better. We just have to keep it up for the whole match."

Dylan Maziur and Matt Funkhouser had two kills each for the Bengals.