Boys Volleyball: Minooka holds off Plainfield South
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com May 1, 2012 10:40PM
Plainfield South's Dakota Derr sets the ball to teammate Eric Hoar. | Larry Kane~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: June 3, 2012 8:13AM
Twenty-six times in the two heart-stopping games Tuesday, Minooka junior Phil Hannon set up his teammates for points.
But with the Indians facing game point for the third time in Game 1, he saw an opening and switched gears, dropping a shot to the floor in the middle of the Plainfield South defense to tie the score at 24.
The Indians went on to win that game 26-24 with the help of two Plainfield South errors, then held off the Cougars’ late rally to win the second game 26-24 and take a giant step toward the Southwest Prairie Conference championship.
Minooka (27-2, 9-0) had beaten South (13-7-1, 6-3) in three games earlier in the season.
“We’re looking forward to playing them a third time,” Cougars coach Bob Majka said. “That would happen in the sectional. We know we can play with them. We just have to finish.”
“I saw an opening and decided to throw it down and see what happened,” the 5-foot-11 Hannon said of the huge first-game kill. “We needed it. South really played well today.”
“I wish we could have cleaned up our mistakes earlier, the way we did by the end,” Minooka coach Janel Grzetich said. “We had some great kills and did the best we could covering their tips.”
Ryan Bauer recorded 12 kills for Minooka. Rick Bishop had six to go with two blocks, Maalik Walker added four kills and three blocks and Matt Svetlecich chipped in four kills.
“They wanted it. We just wanted it a little more,” said Bishop, who scored the final two points of Game 2 on kills off Hannon assists. “We won because of our determination.”
The largest lead in Game 1 belonged to Minooka at 19-14. But South’s 9-1 spurt put the Cougars up 23-20 and forced the Indians to rally.
The Indians led by six points twice in Game 2, but South’s 11-5 run evened it at 24 before Bishop’s two kills ended it.
“I’m happy for the boys,” Grzetich said. “They focused as a team. One of their goals was to win conference, and it took working together, a real team effort, to win this one.”
Tillman Hartell led South with 10 blocks, two kills and an ace. Zak Berta added four kills.
“The miscues just did not pan out our way,” Majka said.
