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PLAINFIELD – The Plainfield South boys volleyball team had to play its first 14 matches of the season without one of its senior leaders.
Domonic Krejci had a good excuse for missing those matches. He was the male lead in the school musical “Between the Lines.”
Wednesday marked Krejci’s first match of the season, and he heated up late to help lead the Cougars (9-6) to a 17-25, 25-19, 25-21 win over Joliet Catholic Academy.
Krejci finished with a team-high nine kills, eight of them coming in the decisive third set.
“This was my first official match of the season,” Krejci said. “I was splitting time between the musical and volleyball. I tried to make as many volleyball practices as I could.
“I was a little nervous starting out tonight. I hadn’t played in a match in a long time. Once I got into it, things went pretty well. We work together pretty well. A lot of us have been playing together since we were sophomores, and the rest since we were juniors, so we know each other pretty well.”
While Krejci and his teammates took a little while to get going, JCA (5-9) had it going from the start. The Hilltoppers dominated play at the net early and never trailed in the first-set victory. Austin Bernhard, Ki Nathaniel, Aydan Garcia, Joseph Egizio and Josh Matl thwarted several Cougar attacks with either outright blocks for points or by getting their hands on the ball to allow the rest of the Hilltopper defense to bring the ball back up. JCA led 17-13 before Garcia got his first kill, and he had three kills and a block in the final eight Hilltopper points.
“Our net defense was very good tonight,” JCA coach Jeffrey Budz said. “Austin Bernhard was fantastic, and Ki Nathaniel got his first start varsity tonight and did a good job.
“Overall, it was a pretty good match, but we have to clean some things up. Give Plainfield South credit. They got hot, and their setter [Alexander Venes] is incredible. He puts the ball right where his guys want it.”
The second set was tight throughout, and it was tied at 12 before a kill by Logan Warkentien and an ace by Venes put South ahead 14-12. JCA tied it with a kill by Matl and a block by Nathaniel, but the Cougars outscored the Hilltoppers 11-5 the rest of the way, clinching the set with back-to-back kills by Venes and Emilio Lagunes.
The third set was when Krejci took the lead for the Cougars.
He delivered three kills in the early going and the set was tied at 12. This time, JCA got the advantage, moving out to a 17-15 lead. Krejci kept the Cougars in it, recording three kills. He then added a kill from the back row to tie the score, and middle hitter Papaa Adansi-Ofori (6 kills) added one to make it 18-17. Back-to-back JCA hitting errors put the Cougars ahead 20-17.
After a kill by Garcia pulled the Hilltoppers to within 20-18, South got a kill each from Chase Kreitzer and Lucas Strezo sandwiched around a block from Adansi-Ofori to move to a 23-18 lead. JCA closed to within 24-21 after a kill by Matl and a South hitting error, but Krejci ended the match with a kill.
“This was a fun match,” South coach George Hagemaster said. “We made a ton of errors in the first set, but we cleaned things up. We have a full team of experienced guys with nine seniors, and we have confidence in anyone we put out there, which helps.
“It was nice to have Domonic back. Once he got used to things again, he played very well. And, there aren’t many people that can stop Papaa when he gets the ball set to him.”