Bartlett finishes with a frenzy

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AURORA -- After a back-and-forth second game where neither team led by more than three points until the late stages, visiting Bartlett closed with a flurry of kills to upend Waubonsie Valley on Thursday evening.

The Hawks seized the early momentum in Game 1 and scored the final seven points of Game 2 to earn a 25-18, 25-20 Upstate Eight Conference win.

Bartlett improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the league. Waubonsie dipped to 7-7 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.

"We've played two tough conference teams," said Bartlett coach John Breines, alluding to his team's wins over St. Charles North and Waubonsie. "That's important. The kids have won four or five straight, so things are going well."

Actually, it was the Warriors who scored the opening two points on Thursday. But errors, a few tough calls and overall solid play by Bartlett did in Waubonsie. A big kill by Connor Dougherty made it a 5-4 game in the early going, but the Hawks scored three straight points and rolled from there.

Bartlett led 15-6 at one point as Waubonsie could never pull closer than five points after the early part of game one.

Game two was tight throughout, as the two teams exchanged the lead six times and also battled to 15 ties. Waubonsie took a 7-4 lead on a Keith Dickenscheidt ace, but the Hawks came right back to even the score at 7-7.

A kill by Dougherty -- off a Dickenscheidt set -- and then a block by Dougherty gave the Warriors a 15-13 lead midway through the game. Waubonsie went up 20-18 after Dickenscheidt had a tip off a free ball that went for a kill.

Bartlett opened up their offense in the late stages and put the match away with a 7-0 run, thanks to several powerful spikes. Setter John Theobald assisted John Campolo, Chris Guiman and Scott Kuehn for six kills during the run. Theobald and Campolo teamed up to block a Waubonsie spike attempt to seal the win.

"We had (Waubonsie) in a bad rotation," said Breines. "We saw they had one big hitter they liked to go to. Earlier in the (game) we made some errors in that rotation and let them out of it."

Waubonsie coach Alan Lagger offered no excuses after the match.

"We didn't play very well tonight," said the coach. "Give Bartlett credit. They came in here and did what they needed to do to win."

Despite the loss, Waubonsie still finds themselves in the thick of the conference race with only one loss.

"We just said that it's up to them," said Lagger about his team's potential. "They're learning what it means to be a team. We keep telling them to put the team first and me second."

Dickenscheidt had eight assists and two aces to lead Waubonsie. Alex Gigler added four kills to lead the offensive attack for the Warriors.