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Sports

Boys Volleyball: Spartans Fall Shy of State Tournament

Glenbrook North loses rematch with New Trier in straight sets in sectional championship game.

Glenbrook North's boys volleyball team already had one victory over the state-ranked New Trier Trevians this season, but in order to get to state, the Spartans needed another.

Unfortunately, New Trier had an answer for everything the Spartans threw their way Tuesday night, and with the help of 19 Glenbrook North (GBN) hitting errors, the rematch went to the Trevians who took home the Niles North Sectional Championship in straight sets, 25-19, 25-22.

"It was night and day from the first time we played them," said New Trier head coach Sue Ellen Haak. "The first time around, we didn't play our game at all. Everything we showed was nothing we ever do, so we had a lot of room to improve.

"But you know what? That was two months ago," she said. "We're 30 games farther down the road and we're loaded with seniors that are calm, cool and confident; that makes a difference in the end."

Despite falling behind 9-2 in first set, GBN battled back to even the score at 14-14. New Trier (33-6 in season play), however, scored the next seven  points and put things out of reach behind the serve of libero Joy Coyne.

GBN would lead by as many as 6 points in the second set, but another 7-point Trevian run led by Bennett Wakenight (five kills, five blocks, one ace) and Jesse Solomon (four kills, three blocks) was too much for the Spartans to overcome.

"New Trier played a really clean match; they didn't make too many errors and they didn't give us any openings," said GBN head coach Chris Cooper. "We struggled in serve-receive,  which is typically not something that we do, and when you struggle in serve-receive, it makes you very predictable. 

"They blocked us really well and as a team, we hit negative--you can't win a match if you're hitting negative," he added. "Still, I'm proud of these guys. They didn't lay down and lose this match--they got beat."

Though Glenbrook North (30-9) won't be traveling to Hoffman Estates for Friday's Super Sectional, Cooper and the Spartans have nothing to hang their heads about. The team's 30 wins during the season captured its ninth straight Central Suburban League (CSL)  North title. The players subsequently won the Niles West Regional.

"Ultimately, we didn't get to where we wanted to go, but it was still a successful season," Cooper said. "You can hardly call a 30-win season a bad one and we accomplished a lot of goals just not the one of getting to state."

Perhaps a run at state is in the cards for Cooper's squad in 2012, as GBN is set to return 11 players from this year's team, including twins Pat and Kyle Bedford, along with Luke Jacobson, who led the Spartans with five kills Tuesday night.

"It's hard on a night like tonight to think about the future and only some of us can do that, so you feel bad for the seniors." Cooper said. "But at the same time, I think our program is still pretty healthy and we've got some good things to look forward to for a couple of years to come."

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"And these seniors are a good group of kids--they did a great job all year. There's not much I can say other than they did whatever I needed them to do," he said. 

"I'm proud of them," the coach added.

Graduating seniors include captain and libero, Connor Bolan (13 digs), setter Danny Slutsky, outside-hitter Glen Song and middle-hitter Scott Schwartz.

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