Glenbard W. tops St. Charles N. for title
The opening point of the match ultimately proved to be indicative of the entire volleyball match between Glenbard West and host St. Charles North.
Glenbard West junior setter Alex Emanuel fed classmate Ian Lawson with a perfect feed, and the powerful 6-foot-9 outside hitter cranked out a vicious winner.
Emanuel would follow with six consecutive service points, and 13 minutes later Glenbard West would have the first game of the IHSA boys volleyball regional in hand.
The host North Stars would play much better in the second game, but would have no answer for Lawson, who delivered eight kills in each game of the Hilltoppers’ straight-sets 25-10, 25-22 triumph.
“In the first game I felt like their block was late,” said Lawson. “I kept hitting around (the block), and the ball kept falling to the floor.”
Glenbard West (30-7) won its first postseason title since its program was initiated in 2006, and the Hilltoppers, the third seed in the sectional complex, advance to meet Addison Trail Friday night at Schaumburg.
St. Charles North had its campaign close at 18-18.
“We’re not an emerging program anymore,” Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Mayer said.
The Hilltoppers have Lawson and Emanuel to thank for their rapid progression.
The two were called up to the varsity during their sophomore year, and the cohesion between the two is instantaneously recognizable.
“We have a connection,” said Emanuel, who engineered the Hilltoppers’ attack with 19 assists and a pair of no-look kills. “It’s just fun out there playing with (Lawson). We’re also good friends off the court.”
The North Stars were never in the first game; Kevin McGinnis’ jump-serve ace gave Glenbard West its first double-digit lead at 15-5, and the cushion soon swelled to 23-8 with another withering kill from Lawson.
The Hilltoppers’ dominant force closed out the North Stars in the first game three points later with the last of his opening-game kills.
“He is a very phenomenal athlete,” St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer said of Lawson. “He is very physical, very strong. That’s what you need to score points.”
St. Charles North would not go quietly in the second game, though.
Behind the offense of Bennett Gust and Branden Hoerner, St. Charles North scored the first two points of the second game.
But Mike O’Dea had an 8-point service run to give the Hilltoppers the second-game lead for good.
St. Charles North would fight to the bitter end.
The squad would close to within a point on two occasions; invariably, though, service and other hitting errors proved especially costly.
“We kept getting the momentum, kept scoring points,” Emanuel said.
“I just wish we would have played like that in the first game,” Weimer said.