Oak Forest helps conference cause

Updated: April 26, 2011 9:05PM

Winning the program’s first boys volleyball conference championship a year ago (sharing the title with Reavis), Oak Forest’s Cody Owens and his teammates set their goals on repeating this season, adding a little more hardware to the trophy case.

In a four-team race for conference with Oak Lawn, Reavis and Richards, Oak Forest helped itself Tuesday, beating Reavis 25-20, 25-21 in a South Suburban crossover.

“Last year was our first championship, and we lost a lot of seniors from last year, but the juniors have been filling in well for us,” Owens said. “We want to win another and keep that history going.”

In a rematch of the co-champs, it was Owens leading the way, dishing out 31 assists. Dylan Maziur added nine kills and five digs, while Tim Loeding (7 digs, 5 kills, 3 blocks) and Alex Hallahan (4 kills). also contributed for Oak Forest.

“We’re still trying to be consistent all the way through a match, but this was a good win for us,” Oak Forest coach Amanda Brown said. “We’re really trying to create some momentum.”

Tuesday’s win marked the beginning of the second half of the conference season. Oak Forest improved to 10-6, 8-1.

An early deficit did nothing to faze the Bengals as a 13-3 run in the opener showed the Oak Forest attack clicking on all cylinders. Maziur had two kills while three other players contributed a kill of their own as part of a run that included two service aces.

Trailing in Game 2, Owens spread the ball around, with Mazuir and Hallahan slamming home kills. Reavis stayed close at 22-21, but a Rams attack went out of bounds. Justin Hebda had a kill before combining with Danny Lyons for a match-winning block.

“We know we can go through some adversity, and then follow through with a big win,” Owens said.

Chris Rusznica (8 kills, 7 blocks), Ruben Puha (7 kills), Kamil Borowski (10 blocks) and Jose Vazquez (22 assists) led Reavis (9-11, 6-3).

“We have to click offensively and defensively, and not just be six different guys on the floor,” Rusznica said. “That’s what we need to work on right now.”

While the road to repeating in conference got more difficult for the Rams with Tuesday’s loss, coach Bob Wielgos has another goal in mind with a favorable sectional draw.

“We made some stupid mistakes, but our ultimate goal is still to get downstate,” Wielgos said.

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