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Plainfield North scraps Minooka
Minooka as Jake Barber (8) looks on, during the first game of their
match in Plainfield Tuesday April, 26, 2011.
Ray Luna ~ For Sun-Times Media
Updated: April 27, 2011 11:54AM
Some teams might take offense at being characterized as “scrappy,” but not Plainfield North.
“This is a very scrappy team,” Plainfield North coach Kevin Vesper said. “But I’d rather have a scrappy team than a hard-hitting team any day. Defense wins championships. That’s true in every sport, especially volleyball.”
Plainfield North, playing relentless defense against the taller visitors Wednesday, scrapped its way to a 25-19, 25-14 victory over Minooka to improve to 16-1 overall. The Tigers also solidified their hold on first-place in the Southwest Prairie Conference at 7-0.
Minooka fell to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in the league.
“They beat us twice last year,” Plainfield North’s 5-foot-9 junior setter Matt Guerrieri said with a hint of satisfaction. “But they were both close matches.”
Guerrieri led the Tigers with 19 assists, three aces and a kill, 5-10 junior outside hitter Eric Rash added eight kills and 5-10 junior outside hitter Jake Barber had seven kills. Jack Krieger added five kills, all in Game Two.
No Minooka player had more than three kills.
“We all like to play defense,” said Guerrieri, who spotted the Tigers a 5-0 lead in Game Two with his three aces sandwiched around a Minooka lift and net violation. “I’m a libero in club. I believe it’s better to get a great dig than a great hit.
“We have a great coach, a great group of guys, we get along, we want to succeed and we are willing to put in the effort to do so,” he added.
Although Plainfield North was not credited with a block for a kill, the hosts got their hands on a number of balls they were able to transition into winners.
“One of my biggest concerns before the season was that we are not very tall,” Vesper said. “But the guys proved that they can play through it. They are quick on offense and try to get to everything they can on defense.”
Minooka led only briefly a 3-2 in Game One and never led in Game Two.
“We did not show up,” Minooka coach Janel Grzetich said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Plainfield North, but we were not mentally here, we were not physically here, we did not block, we did not cover the blockers.
“There’s a long list of things we did not do at all,” Grzetich added. “We’re so much better than that.”
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