Huskies come back to down Glenbard East

Updated: May 13, 2011 11:27PM

Naperville North’s Shane Witmer admits he has much the same smile he did when he was three years old. All anyone who doubts him had to do was check out his baby pictures displayed on the north wall of the North gymnasium Thursday.

Witmer the teenager had plenty of reason to smile Thursday, too. The 6-foot-5 senior had 16 kills to lead Naperville North (22-11, 8-4 in the DuPage Valley Conference) to a 19-25, 25-14, 25-18 victory over Glenbard East that snapped a three-game losing streak for the Huskies.

“This was a huge turnaround for us,” said Witmer, who was one of seven seniors who sat out the first game of Tuesday’s surprising straight-set loss to Naperville Central after leaving the Lincoln-Way East tournament early Saturday to attend prom.

“A lot of us were feeling down after Tuesday,” he aid. “But there’s not much you can do about that. At least we bounced back today. I’m happy.”

Glenbard East (21-7, 9-3) tried to extend North’s downward spiral by winning the first game behind 6-foot senior Kevin Farrell, who had six kills and a block as the Rams broke a deadlock at 12-all with a 9-4 run.

But North rebounded in Game 2 behind Witmer and 6-6 junior Spencer Sauter, whose kill off the top of the block capped a 10-2 run to give the hosts a 21-11 lead. Henry Cheatham added three kills, two blocks and two aces in the set.

“They were throwing up high balls in the first game and we were all coming down with our blocks when they were hitting,” Witmer said. “We made some adjustments. It was just good to get all our starters back for the first time in a couple of weeks.”

North employed the same script in Game 3, extending an 11-9 lead with a 9-4 run that featured consecutive kills by Sauter and a pair of blocks from senior middle Ryan Loughlin.

“We’re not one of the bigger teams around,” Sauter said. “We have been working real hard all season on closing our blocks. As long as we can get a few touches, we can hang with the bigger teams.”

Steve Massoni had 31 assists for Naperville North, and Sauter, who sat out Game 1 in deference to an all-senior lineup, added five kills and a block.

“This is the first time in a long time that the guys were able to make adjustments not just between games, but in the middle of games,” Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin said. “They were talking to each other.

“The talent is there,” he added. “I think we’ll be OK heading into regionals and sectionals.”

Farrell finished with seven kills and younger brother Joe Farrell added six for Glenbard East.

“We had opportunities,” Glenbard East coach Marci Maier said. “I thought we played extremely well in Game 1. But we didn’t sustain it. We made quite a few hitting errors in Games 2 and 3 and they played well.”

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