Downers South takes down rival North

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM

Both Downers Grove schools bussed 23 miles to Schaumburg Saturday to settle their differences between North and South.

But South rose again to win the Schaumburg Invitational for the second consecutive year over its District 99 rival to the North.

In a match that featured the balanced attack of Downers South against the power of 6-foot-6 Downers North senior Greg Petty, the Mustangs rallied to win 22-25, 25-17, 25-18 over the Trojans in the championship match.

Downers South ended Downers North's seven-match win streak. North's only previous loss this season came against South, 25-20, 25-21 on March 22 in the second match of the season at North.

South (16-2) had four different players with at least five kills, led by David Manganiello's 11 kills. South outblocked North 8-4 in the final.

"We are all really great friends. We play club together [for Elite] and we know a lot of guys from Snowball," said Manganiello, referring to the district's drug-free program.

Petty finished with 14 kills, but had only one kill in the decisive third set. He had eight kills in the second set. Petty also had 14 kills in North's 25-17, 25-18 semifinal victory over West Suburban Silver rival Hinsdale Central. Those two teams meet again April 26 in Hinsdale.

North (9-2) trailed 7-6 in the third set when South went on a 6-1 run capped by a block by Brad Widdel. Petty committed two hitting errors in the third set until his only kill pulled the Trojans to within 21-16. The Mustangs answered with three consecutive points to reach match point, but finally won on Sam Kull's match-ending kill off C.J. Blaha's quick set.

"After the first set, we went down in our intensity," Petty said. "It quickly fell apart from there. I think it's a little frustrating we didn't get [the title], but I feel nothing will keep our team from getting better and better as the season goes on."

Mitch Pittner and Jordan Thompson had seven kills each for North, which also had 32 assists from Zach Parik.

Paris McFall had seven kills for South and Kevin O'Halloran (five blocks) and Widdel had five kills each.

Both teams could meet again next weekend in the Downers South Invitational.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.