Volleyball: Spartans Shut Down Trevians

Glenbrook North's boys' volleyball team has yet to crack any top-ten poll.

But after Friday's dismantling of area-ranked New Trier, perhaps the Spartans will finally be given the respect their play demands.

Behind a balanced offense and near-flawless defense, Glenbrook North (10-3) made quick work of the visiting Trevians, snapping New Trier's seven-match winning streak in consecutive sets (25-20, 25-16) in Northbrook.

"We started spreading the ball around to every one of our guys, and we played really good defense," said Spartans' head coach Chris Cooper. "If you can play good defense and pass well, you can stay in any match, and when we do that, we're pretty good. Rankings this early in the season don't always tell the story."

Though Glenbrook North scored on its opening serve of the first set, the Spartans quickly fell behind by three points - an advantage New Trier maintained until halfway through game one.

After trailing 15-12, however, GBN rattled off the next four consecutive points and closed the first game by scoring six of the final eight, thanks in large part to middle-hitter Scott Schwartz, who led the Spartans with six kills.

"We knew this was a big game, so we had a lot of energy coming out and we played like it was a championship match," said Schwartz, a 6-foot-5 senior. "We didn't hold back.:

"Scott played well tonight, and as it worked out. I felt like our match-up was pretty good - that was a spot we could go at and we were able to get a couple of kills early in the game," Cooper added. "Once you get middle attacks, it loosens things up for everybody else because they have to keep their middle on ours, and it makes it harder for them to get a big block up."

In game two, Glenbrook North slowly built a 14-10 lead, but with Kyle Bedford (14 assists) serving, the Spartans' ran off seven straight points and put the match well out of reach. Though New Trier responded with a five-point run of it's own, GBN finished strong once again, scoring five of the game's final six points for the lopsided victory.

"We played really well as a team, we did what we worked on in practice and we executed throughout the entire match," said Bedford, who along with his twin brother, Patrick, combined for seven kills against the Trevians. "We've gotten down early a lot, unfortunately, but we're working on getting better. Clearly we bounced back really quick."

Though Glenbrook North and New Trier are on opposite sides of the Central Suburban League, the two volleyball powers are in the same IHSA Sectional and could meet again in the post season.

In fact, the Spartans are counting on it.

"Of course there's a good chance that we see them again," Schwartz said, "and if it happens, we'll be ready just like we were tonight."

Glenbrook North will return to action on Monday evening when the Spartans travel to Wheeling to face the Wildcats at 6:00pm.

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NEW TRIER

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GLENBROOK NORTH

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