Brdicka engineers Naperville C. victory

Naperville Central;s Dan Dierking (left) looks on as teammate Victor Lei keeps the game-point ball alive versus Marist at Wheaton Warrenville South.
(Kate Szrom/Naperville Sun)

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After three years of varsity volleyball and a few more of club play, Naperville Central's 6-foot-6 middle hitter Mike Brdicka plans to devote his energy to pursuing a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois next fall.

Meanwhile, Brdicka and his Naperville Central teammates are enjoying their last few weeks together. Thursday at the 6th Annual Tiger Classic Invitational at Wheaton Warrenville South, some of their fun came at the expense of Marist.

Brdicka had four kills and seven blocks, 6-6 teammate Matt Yanz added nine kills and five blocks and Victor Lei added 22 assists as the No. 2 Redhawks (8-0) defeated the South Side RedHawks 19-25, 25-23, 25-23 to advance to Saturday’s gold division.

Brdicka’s big blocks continually frustrated the Hawks on the other side of the net.

“Mike has made a lot of developmental strides during the last year,” Naperville Central coach Bryan Johnwick said. “He really worked on his skills.”

Brdicka compared the victory to Saturday’s adventures at the Hoffman Estates tournament, where the Redhawks dropped the first game of a semifinal against Mundelein and again in the championship match against New Trier.

“We like to make it interesting,” he said. “But our coach helps us a lot. He really runs us hard in practice.”

Having Brdicka in the middle doesn’t hurt.

“I will miss high school volleyball,” he said. “But I’ll be fine. I will probably try out for a club team. It’s good volleyball, without all the glory.”

Joining Naperville Central in the gold division were No. 9 Wheaton Warrenville South (7-2), No. 8 Sandburg (6-1) and No. 6 Glenbrook North (5-1), which all won twice in pool play Thursday.

No. 7 Marist (5-2), which got 11 kills from Joe Smalzer and 10 kills from Evan Bruton against Naperville Central, advanced to the silver division by defeating Wheaton North 25-5, 25-23.