Boys volleyball: Defense helps lead Joliet West past Providence

NEW LENOX – The Joliet West boys volleyball team suffered through a 6-11 season last year, but this season has the makings of something entirely different.

The trial by fire that a young Tigers team got last season has forged this year’s edition into a tough, defensive-minded team. That was on display Thursday night as Joliet West improved to 2-0 with a 25-17, 25-23 victory over Providence Catholic.

“This was a solid match for us,” Joliet West coach Nick Luchetti said. “Providence is a good team, they have a couple of kids that can really swing and they are well-coached and very scrappy on defense. We knew they would be tough, and we had to be tough, too.”

The Tigers were tough throughout the match, which was close the whole way.

In the first set, neither team was able to gain more than a three-point lead until Joliet West went on a 7-2 run to end the set after leading 18-15. The Tigers got a kill from Ben Castillo to start the spurt and, after a Providence hitting error, Tommy Fellows and Nate Fleischauer combined on a block before Fleischauer put down a kill for a 22-15 lead. After Providence got a point on a West hitting error, Fellows got a kill and then served an ace for a 24-16 lead. A serving error made it 24-17, but Fleischauer ended the set with a kill.

The block by Fellows and Fleischauer was one of many by the Tigers, with those two players, along with Logan Brouwer, Castillo and Collin McIntyre, contributing to the net defense as well.

“We have been preaching blocking at practice,” Luchetti said. “When we get a big block it amps up the rest of our defense, and that gets our offense going.”

If the ball got past the Tiger block, then libero Jake Krefft was more often than not there to save it and start the offense. Krefft also had a stellar game serving and made the right decisions on whether or not to let a ball go out of bounds. He finished with five service points and provided the Tigers with a bit of momentum in the second set when he made a diving dig that fell on Providence’s side of the net for a point to tie the set at 12.

“Jake is a player that worked really hard last year as a junior and earned a spot in the starting lineup,” Luchetti said. “He has really taken off and gives us a lot of leadership. He is a very smart player.”

The second set was back-and-forth as well, but eight service errors spelled doom for Providence (1-1).

“We are still finding our way,” Providence coach Lee Rucinski said. “We gave them 14 points on serving errors. That’s almost an entire set. We had eight serving errors in the second set, and still we were able to be tied at 22. We had no business being in the game with the errors we made, but these kids are fighters.”

Providence held a 17-16 lead in the second set before a kill by Castillo (6 kills), a Providence hitting error and a kill by Fleischauer (4 kills) put the Tigers ahead, 19-17. A kill by Logan Brouwer (6 kills) gave the Tigers a 22-20 lead, but Providence got a kill by Adam DeReburtis (9 kills) and a point on a double-hit error by Joliet West to tie it at 22. Back-to-back kills by Brouwer and Castillo put the Tigers ahead 24-22 before DeRubertis got the serve back for Providence with a kill. Unfortunately, the final Celtics serve went into the net to give the Tigers the match.

“This is a talented group of kids that took their lumps last year,” Luchetti said. “This year, we have eight seniors and four sophomores, so we have a nice mix of experience and youth.”