Downers North wins, advances

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM

Maine South had no trouble siding-out through the first 20 points of the two games it played Thursday against Downers Grove North at the Mustang Invitational hosted by Downers Grove South.

It was the next 20 points that proved to be a problem.

Mitch Pittner had seven kills, Greg Petty added six kills and J.P. Tulacka had five kills and five blocks as Downers Grove North (13-2) advanced to Saturday's tournament quarterfinals with a 25-15, 25-19 victory over Maine South.

The Hawks (7-5), who led No. 2 Marist 24-21 in Game 1 of a match less than a week ago, are still struggling to find consistency with a young team that returned only two starters from last year's 41-game winner.

"Consistency, that's the name of the game," Maine South coach Gary Granell said. "The first half of both games tonight was sideout, sideout. Our offense can sideout and play with any team if our defense and passing hold up.

"Tonight, our passing broke down in both games," he said. "They (Downers North) would get three or four-point separation, and it's hard to recover from that. You have to pass well to set well, and set well to hit well. It's a pyramid effect."

Downers North pulled away from a 13-12 advantage in Game 1 to close on a 12-3 run fueled by a trio of cross-court kills from Pittner.

"They were taking the line away," he said. "That shot was working."

Maine South ran into more of the same in Game 2. Tulacka, a 6-foot-6 junior, did most of his damage during a 15-4 Downers North run after the Trojans fell behind 7-6. Even a timeout down 12-8 could not stop the Maine South bleeding.

"We have pretty much the whole team back from last year, and we got stronger at the end of the season," Pittner said. "This year, we are only getting stronger every match with the same people."

Michael Unti had five kills, Greg Sims had three kills and a block and Joe Pearson added eight assists for Maine South.

"We're still working with two new setters and we only have one hitter back from last year (Spencer Groessl), so it's still a learning process," Grannell said.

Luckily, there is still plenty of classroom time left for the Hawks.

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