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Ponticelli rallies Glenbrook North to win
Updated: April 5, 2011 2:16PM
There was not much Trevor Ponticelli could do but watch while his Glenbrook North teammates fell behind Brother Rice 9-5 in the third game of the teams' pool-play match Friday at the Tiger Classic in Wheaton.
"Obviously, we weren't playing well," the 6-foot-2 junior rightside hitter said. "We had a little trouble serving. Coach (Chris Cooper) was yelling at us to man up. We didn't have that killer instinct. He put me in there to provide a spark. I did my job."
Ponticelli did his job very well.
Glenbrook North (6-1) went on a 10-2 run after Ponticelli entered the match and never looked back, defeating Brother Rice 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 to advance to Saturday's Gold Bracket quarterfinals against Lincoln-Way East.
Ponticelli finished with two kills, an ace that capped the big run and a handful of assists despite only playing the final 24 points of the match.
"Switching to a 6-2 gave us three hitters at the net all the time and a little bigger block," Cooper said. "The matchups offensively were a little better. We had not been playing smart. Once we started playing smarter, we were able to exploit their weaknesses.
"We're still trying things out," the coach added.
Scott Schwartz led the Spartans with 14 kills, Patrick Bedford had 11 kills and three aces, Luke Jacobson added nine kills and a block and Danny Slutsky added 31 assists.
"I thought our libero (5-9 senior Connor Bolan) played his butt off," Cooper said.
Dan Weishar had 10 kills and two blocks for Brother Rice (4-3). Mike Noyes added 26 assists and Bran Pomorski had eight kills and two aces.
"I thought our ball control was pretty good, but our jump-serving and passing were inconsistent," Brother Rice coach Paul Ickes said.
"Glenbrook North plays excellent defense," he added. "That's always a hallmark of theirs. We got stuck in spots and did not move well to the ball. I'm not worried about our firepower. That certainly showed. We have to work on playing better defense."
Meanwhile, two top seeds fell by the wayside in pool play Friday to slip into the Silver Bracket. Bison Battle champion Naperville North (6-2) was upset by Oak Park 25-17, 19-25, 25-15 and Lincoln-Way Central (6-4) was upended by St. Louis DeSmet 25-22, 13-25, 25-23.
"We came out and tried to run a 6-2," Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin said. "We have two very good setters. I wanted to see of it would work. We did the same thing last year. But the communication wasn't there.
"It's one match," he said. "Obviously, I'd like to have it back."
Lincoln-Way Central got six kills and four blocks from 6-8 junior Brad Foster, nine kills and two blocks from Sean Blackwood and four kills and six aces from Alex Severson, but it was not enough against perennial Missouri power DeSmet (7-0).
"We're pounding the ball to get our kills and they're getting points off our errors," Lincoln-Way Central coach Joann Holverson said. "We have a lot of weapons. At times we look unstoppable. We just need everyone to step up and make one more play."
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