Stay Connected with YourSeason
McGuinness, Oak Lawn finish off Reavis
With 16 kills already to his name in Tuesday's South Suburban Red match, Oak Lawn's Pat McGuinness had the Reavis defense exactly where he wanted.
So after wave after wave of powerful kills, the senior outside hitter switched things up with a hit that floated over the net and found a hole in the Reavis defense for the game-winner in a 25-19, 19-25, 25-21 home win.
"(Oak Lawn assistant coach Matt) Hunt told me the middle was open," McGuinness said. "Reavis was waiting for me to hit it hard so I placed it right there."
McGuinness's 17 kills led Oak Lawn (9-9, 6-2) which kept itself in the hunt for the conference title with the win. Also contributing for the Spartans were Sean Dunne (6 kills), Brad Mamroth (6 kills), and Ali Sheikh (36 assists).
"Pat's been great for us the last couple games putting up 13 and 14 kills," Oak Lawn coach Ryan Skendzel said. "He's our leader out there, and when he's on, we're on."
McGuinness came through with eight kills in the decisive third game after a back and forth affair through the first two games.
Committing 18 unforced errors in the opener, Reavis gave away the first game only to jump out to a commanding 17-9 advantage in the second. Oak Lawn cut the deficit to three at 18-15 but could get no closer.
So after an off the wall first two games, what did the third hold?
"We just knew we had to come out focused and ready to play, and that's what we were able to do," McGuinness said.
Leading 21-20, McGuinness started a mini-run with a kill with Dunne and Marc Hansen following with kills of their own. Looking for the game point, McGuinness' floater kill gave the Spartans the win on their home court.
Chris Rusznica had 11 kills for Reavis (8-5, 6-2) and Kamil Borowski added eight. Patryk Slomba (20 digs), Will Ruiz (17 assists), and Nick Bal (12 assists) chipped in for the Rams.
With the second half of the conference season still ahead, Reavis coach Bob Wielgos wasn't panicking.
"We just made a lot of dumb hitting errors," Wielgos said. "That's unacceptable and has to be cleaned up. Two losses won't cost you conference though. Everything is tight, and we'll eliminate the mental mistakes."
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment