Neuqua picks up pace vs. Plainfield N.

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Neuqua Valley was not happy with its performance in Tuesday’s regional semifinal against Plainfield South. That was not good news for Wednesday’s opponent, Plainfield North.

Rob Bauer and Derek Menendez each had 10 kills and Alex Onsager had 29 assists to lead No. 6 Neuqua Valley (32-3) to a 25-11, 25-17 victory over the Tigers in the regional final at Neuqua.

“We came out early and practiced a little,” Neuqua Valley’s Rob Bauer said. “We saw Plainfield North beat Minooka yesterday and we knew they were a legitimate team. They were a lot better than we were thinking.”

“We were mentally prepared for the first game,” he added. “We came out really strong. We were extremely pumped.”

Neuqua Valley opened a 17-6 lead in Game 1 behind the 6-foot-4 Menendez, who had six kills and two blocks in the game.

“We didn’t play very well yesterday,” Menendez said. “We wanted to come out tonight and give everything we had. The energy was 100 percent. The bench was loud, the crowd was loud. Everyone was cheering us on.”

Plainfield North (25-7), which carried a 13-match winning streak into the contest, took a brief 12-9 lead in Game 2. But the Wildcats answered with a 12-3 run behind Bauer and Tim Bracket (five kills, block).

“We made an adjustment to our lineup for Game 2,” Plainfield North coach Kevin Vesper said. “They were blocking everything we threw at them. But when they made their run (in Game 2), we started making some mental errors and lost our aggressiveness.

“From what I saw yesterday, Neuqua definitely played better,” the coach added. “Neuqua outplayed us.”

Brett Gundersen had six kills and Jeremy DeWeerdt added five kills for the Tigers. Kevin Begley had 10 digs and Grant Hedrick added two kills for Neuqua Valley.

“We can’t stop here,” Menendez said. “There’s something special on this team. Our goal is to get to the state tournament and win state.”