Minooka puts away Plainfield Central

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM

The mind-set of a team with state championship hardware can come into play during the crucial part of an emotional game.

Plainfield Central had earned a hard-fought split in the first two games Tuesday night against Minooka, fourth in the state last year, and the Wildcats had the boys volleyball victory in sight with a 20-20 tie in the finale.

"We said we have to finish this game, we can't lose this,'' Minooka middle hitter Rick Bishop said. "We already lost one conference game.''

Bishop recorded the last two kills in Game 3 that gave Minooka the 19-25, 25-17, 25-20 Southwest Prairie Conference victory.

"We just got our heads together,'' Bishop said. "We were really killing ourselves that first game. The second game we were passing a lot better and our sets were a lot better.''

Bishop finished with 10 kills and six blocks to lead Minooka (8-2, 3-1) with plenty of help from Kevin Hannon (10 kills), Nicholas Vertin (6 kills), John Savickas (5 kills, 3 blocks), Jordan Smith (30 assists) and Michael O'Neill (3 aces).

Hannon had the game-winning kill in the second game, which featured an 11-2 Minooka run that gave the Indians a 19-8 advantage. Plainfield Central rallied to get within 22-14 before Minooka closed it out for a 25-17 final.

"I think we definitely picked up the intensity and momentum in the second game,'' Minooka coach Janel Grzetich said. "That's what we were lacking in the first game. It was just error after error after error. Nobody was stepping up to make that turnaround. In the second game they finally did that.''

Plainfield Central (8-3, 4-1) fell behind 3-0 to start the match, but never trailed again in the first game after taking a 5-4 lead en route to a 25-19 victory.

"We came out really strong in game one,'' Plainfield Central coach Bobby Richardson said. "We started hanging back on our heels a little in Game 2, not being as aggressive as we needed especially with a big team like Minooka. We needed to keep our consistency. That's one of the things we're working on.''

Plainfield Central was led by Wes Higgenbotham (15 kills), Cody Swanson (18 assists), Ryan Gustafson (5 digs) and Nick Merlo (4 digs).

Grzetich said she couldn't pinpoint why her team improved its overall play in the second game after losing the opener to a fired-up Plainfield Central squad.

"Sometimes we kind of sit back on our heels and watch our own hitters hitting the ball,'' Grzetich said. "When things are clicking it seems like everyone is moving all at once. We are covering each other well. Everything is just fitting together.''

Bringing a trophy home from the state finals last year put a target on Minooka's back for this season.

"That is what we tell the boys, just to put a little pressure on them,'' Grzetich said. "If that's going to make them play up to a certain level, a certain standard, I'll keep telling them that.''

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