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Downers North rallies past Oak Park
Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM
Downers Grove North coach Mark Wasik lamented his team's early schedule after Tuesday's visit by Oak Park-River Forest.
"We had not been challenged outside Downers Grove South," he said. "We have only seen a couple of teams at this level and this is only the second team that pushed us. The more we can play at this level, the better we'll get at execution."
Defending West Suburban Silver champion Oak Park pushed a little harder than perhaps Wasik would have liked. But trailing 5-0 early in the third game, the Trojans turned to their ace to muzzle the Huskies.
Lewis-bound 6-foot-6 senior Greg Petty had 17 kills, including eight in Game 3, as Downers North rallied to defeat Oak Park 25-23, 27-29, 25-21 in West Suburban Silver action.
Petty had five kills in the closing stages of Game 3 after a quick hitter by 6-6 junior middle J.P. Tulacka broke a deadlock at 12-all.
"We need to play at a higher caliber," said Petty, who had never beaten Oak Park. "Although we have a lot of guys back from last year, we still have some guys who are inexperienced. I am trying to help out. I try to keep the atmosphere loose.
"We still have a few things to work out," he added. "We have to learn to finish plays, to finish games. Tonight, we were able to finish the third game and get the win."
An ace by Downers North setter Zach Parik broke a 22-22 tie in Game One and helped the hosts take an early lead, but Oak Park (12-6, 1-1) fought off three match points in Game Two to even the match on a block by Ethan Thomas.
The Huskies grabbed an early 5-0 advantage in Game 3, but a kill by Mitch Pittner got the Trojans (10-2, 3-0) even at 10-10 and his ace gave the hosts a 14-12 lead. A kill by Oak Park's Greg Kordesh had the Huskies within 21-19, but a get-me-over kill by Petty ended the suspense.
Tulacka had nine kills and two blocks, Kurt Dolson and Jordan Thompson each had five kills and Parik added 38 assists for Downers North. Ben Wilks led Oak Park with 10 kills, Owen Brady added seven kills and Diego Rodriguez-Guerrios had 27 assists.
"We had opportunities," Oak Park coach Don August said. "We got off to a nice start in Game 3, but we let them creep back into it. Two areas that hurt us at the end of Game 1 were passing errors and hitting errors, and we had six hitting errors in Game Three.
"We had the size advantage at the net at the end of Game 3, but when they can set Petty in the back row, it's not too much of an advantage," August added.
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