Wildcats' victory 'no fluke'

Neuqua Valley felt it had something to prove in its quarterfinal match against Glenbard East at the 17th state boys volleyball tournament Friday at Hoffman Estates.

“I don’t think people took us seriously last year, even though we finished third,” Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza said. “I felt coming in we were playing with a chip on our shoulder. We wanted to prove to the state that we were no fluke.”

Jake Blackman had 13 kills, Rob Bauer added nine kills and Derek Menendez contributed eight kills and six blocks as Neuqua Valley (37-3) defeated Glenbard East 25-21, 19-25, 25-20.

“We scouted a lot of teams prior to the tournament and we all felt that Glenbard East was the best team we saw,” Mendoza said. “To beat them says a lot about our guys.”

A kill by Glenbard East’s Dan Mader tied the third game at 15-15, but kills by the Wildcats’ Brian Clark and Blackman sandwiched around a hitting error by the Rams allowed Neuqua Valley to build an 18-15 lead.

Trailing 22-17, Glenbard East (36-4) scored three unanswered points on a pair of kills by Tim Lovik (17 kills) and a kill by Tom Seagraves. But Blackman sandwiched a kill and an ace around an Collin Adler putaway to send the Wildcats into Saturday’s 11:00 a.m. semifinal.

“The third game was pretty much a sideout ballgame,” Glenbard East coach Marci Maier. “They scored a couple of key points to get ahead and we weren’t able to get a key play to get us over the top.”