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Mead-led Marist prevails
Updated: April 2, 2011 9:26AM
Jim Mead spent most of last year sitting on the bench during Marist's run
to the state title. But he wasn't sitting still.
"I learned a lot from those guys," the 6-foot-5 middle hitter said. "I
did not play much because we were just a deep team. But I worked hard to get
better every day."
Mead's patience is being rewarded this spring. Thursday against Glenbrook
South at the annual Tiger Classic hosted by Wheaton Warrenville South, Mead
cranked out three kills, two blocks and nine aces to lead the RedHawks to
a 25-23, 25-10 victory.
Mead had six aces to stake Marist (8-0) to a 8-0 lead in Game 2.
"I really developed my jump-serve during the off-season," Mead said. "I
did not have anything close to that last year."
Glenbrook South (2-2) kept Marist off the service line for long stretches
in Game 1, but never led after a rotation error broke a 16-16 tie. A kill
by 6-foot-8 Peter Rafalo had the Titans within 24-23, but Garrett Dempsey's
dump shot found a hole near the pin on the next rally.
"Marist executed," said Glenbrook South coach Tim Monahan, whose team was
down two starters due to spring break. "They're not the same team they
were last year, but they execute and they don't get rattled.
"We battled in the first set, and I'd like to think it could have gone
wither way," the coach added. "But they took (6-10) Lucas (Rytel) and Peter
out of the offense with their serving and we took Lucas and Peter out of
our offense with our passing."
Kevin Morrison led Marist with nine kills, John Yerkes and Tony Natalino
each had four and Dempsey had 20 assists. Rytel had six kills for Glenbrook
South, but only one in Game 2.
"Serving was the difference," Marist coach Bob St. Leger said. "We missed
seven serves in the first game, but I told the kids to keep being
aggressive. Even our float serves were as good as our jump-serves in Game 2.
"They (Glenbrook South) are big." he added. "They have a lot of guys who
can really hit the ball. They are going to win a lot of games, that's for
sure."
Meanwhile, overall No. 1 seed Wheaton Warrenville South (6-2) stumbled out
of the gate for the second consecutive week, falling to Lincoln-Way East
25-17, 14-25, 25-17 in both teams' opener.
"Our libero (junior Jake Tomaras) was the difference," said L-W East
coach Kris Fiore, whose team improved to 7-1. "Not only was he digging
everything they were hitting, he was digging to our setter, which allowed us to run
our offense."
WW South, minus 6-6 outside Michal Stefanski who is out of town visiting
schools during spring break, bounced back with a 25-21, 25-14 win over
Naperville Central.
"I'm looking forward to having everyone together and developing some
consistency," said WW South coach Bill Schreier, whose team's other loss came
with veteran banger Eric Luhrsen out nursing a knee injury. "But it's
still early."
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