A win-win situation for Sandburg, Janik

Updated: May 11, 2011 10:04PM

Sandburg coach Sean Airola had any numbers of reasons to get fired up for Wednesday’s boys volleyball match vs. Providence.

The Celtics ended Sandburg’s season in 2010 in the sectional semis and recently beat the No. 2 Eagles in pool play at the Brother Rice Smack Attack.

Airola also is a Providence alum (1999) where his mother, Nan, was a longtime coach for the girls volleyball team.

But Wednesday, win or lose, Airola was rooting for someone else: Sandburg senior Brandon Janik, who is going through treatment for Ewing’s Cancer. From the match held at Neil Carver Arena at Lewis University, 75 percent of proceeds went to the Janik family.

“The No. 1 thing about tonight was raising some money for a family that’s going through some hard times,” Sean Airola said. “(Brandon) goes through a lot more than we do on a daily basis, and that’s the most important message throughout.”

Janik was in attendance Wednesday, talking to the team pre-match before receiving a standing ovation from the packed house in Romeoville. Janik has been a student in Airola’s gym class.

“I’ve known coach Airola for so long, and that’s why he decided to put this together,” Janik said. “When my family heard about it, we were blown away. We just couldn’t believe it. We were all especially excited to come out and try and help.”

Janik’s night was boosted with a three-game thrilling win for Sandburg, 22-25, 25-13, 25-19.

With a possible third match looming in the sectional semifinals between the teams, the win meant everything to the Eagles.

“This definitely boosts our confidence knowing we could face them again at sectionals,” Sandburg’s Jason Fox said. “That said, we’re going into each match with a different attitude, and if we have to play them, we know we can play with them.”

Tom Carmody had nine kills for Sandburg (28-3) to go with seven kills apiece from Fox and Muys. Bill Siroky (6 kills), Kevin Groeper (6 kills, 14 digs) and Scott Fifer (28 assists, 5 blocks) also contributed.

Providence grabbed the early momentum, taking the first game behind a balanced attack. Sandburg wasted little time putting the loss behind it, closing the second game on a 17-7 run.

“We went into that second game saying, ‘We’re going three,’ ” Fox said. “We’re going to push it, and we’re going to win this one. We put it behind us, and made sure we got out to a good lead.”

With neither team able to distance itself from the other in the third, Sandburg closed strong. Leading 20-18, Carmody slammed home a kill. The 6-foot-8 middle, then combined with Groeper for a block.

With the crowd on its feet, Muys and Fox closed things out with a kill each.

Providence (15-8) was led by Marty Ross and Casey Contorno, who had seven kills apiece. Brendan Duffner added six kills and Karl Schramm had 14 assists.

For Providence coach Brett Krapil, the origins of Wednesday’s match date to his playing days with Airola in a Celtics uniform.

“Playing together, we always talked about if we ever coached, we had to make sure we played each other,” Krapil said. “We wanted to do something special for the kids, and that was the biggest thing, give them a memory. What will they remember from their high school season? Playing on this floor is something special.”

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