Boys volleyball: Glenbard West bests the field at Lincoln-Way East Invitational

FRANKFORT – Glenbard West’s Danny Dorsey missed knocking Marist from the undefeated ranks last weekend.

He wasn’t going to miss this match.

Dorsey and the Hilltoppers handed Roncalli, one of the top-ranked team from Indiana, its first loss of the season, 25-23, 25-23, on Saturday in the championship match of the Lincoln-Way East Invitational.

The senior outside hitter was named tournament MVP as he hammered seven kills, five digs and a block for Glenbad West, which is one of the top-ranked teams in Illinois.

It was the 22nd straight win for Glenbard West (23-1), which lost, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23, to Lincoln-Way East on the same floor March 24 in the second match of the season. The Royals (26-1), who were the Indiana state runner-up last season, saw their 26-match win streak come to an end.

In last week’s 25-20, 25-16 victory over Marist in the championship match of the Smack Attack at Brother Rice, Dorsey was out sick. But his presence certainly made a difference against Roncalli.

“I was out with a massive sinus infection and it was painful,” Dorsey said of missing the previous week’s title match. “But the guys all picked me up.

“I loved every second of being out there today. [Brendan Louthain] is an amazing player for them, he’s insane. But we just have all these guys clicking out there and it’s been awesome.”

Louthian, who made the all-tournament team, was originally from the Naperville area. But his dad took a job in Indiana when he was young and he has made a name for himself. The senior outside hitter committed to NCAA Division II Lindenwood University had a match-high 16 kills.

“It was way fun,” Glenbard West junior outside hitter Parker Moorhead said. “We got some really good competition at this tournament and [the title match] was a great win. We played as a team and we knew we had to to be able to do that.”

Moorhead, who added a block and three digs, had six kills but none bigger than the three he had down the stretch.

Trailing 20-19 in the second set, Moorhead smashed back-to-back kills, and junior middle blocker Liam O’Neil (three kills, four blocks) had the first of his two big blocks at the end as the Hilltoppers took the lead for good with a 3-0 run.

Leading 23-22, Moorhead put down another kill to move Glenbard West a point away. Louthain had a block to close the gap to one. But his next attempt at a set-tying kill was blocked by O’Neil for the match-winning point.

“It just felt amazing,” O’Neill said of his winning block. “I felt really hyped up. My team surrounded me, they empowered me. This win helps us a ton. We want the best competition and everyone coming at us.”

Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Meyer was very happy with her team’s adjustments, especially O’Neill.

“He made such good adjustments,” Giunta-Meyer said. “What I liked at the end is that we stopped our hitting errors and found our finesse. Also, Dorsey is such a good leader and always shows that for us. He’s just an amazing human being. I’m really proud of our defense. We settled in and played really well.”

Although the match was tight throughout, the Hilltoppers led most of the way, including 11-7 early in the second set.

Roncalli scored the first two points of the first set, but Glenbard West came back with four straight points and never trailed again. With the score tied at 7-all, Glenbard West had four different players with kills during a 5-0 run.

The Royals rallied to tie the set at 18, but Dorsey and opposite side hitter Gavin Swartz (five kills) had back-to-back kills to start a 3-0 run as Glenbard West took the lead for good. Later, Dorsey deposited the set-winner.

Sam Alles, a defensive specialist who had four digs in the title match but had stepped in to play libero on Friday in pool play, also was named to the all-tournament team.

Trevor Powell, a senior setter, continued to do a great job setting the table with 25 assists, a kill, two blocks, two aces and four digs. Senior opposite side hitter Gavin Swartz contributed five kills and three digs, and senior libero Kenny Gibson had 11 digs for the Hilltoppers.

While it was another big win for Glenbard West, there is still more volleyball to be played.

“[Our record] is very good and this win is very important,” Dorsey said. “But we can’t let this win define us. We have to continue to go 100% and not be complacent.”

It was the 30th annual Lincoln-Way East Invite but the first since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the semifinals, Glenbard West defeated Lockport, 25-21, 25-14. Roncalli toppled the host Griffins, 25-20, 25-21.

Lockport rallied for a 23-25, 25-20, 15-13 win over Lincoln-Way East for third place.

In the third-place match, the Porters (20-4) came back from a 10-5 deficit in the final set. Senior outside hitter Matt Krzos, who made the all-tournament team, led Lockport with 13 kills, including the final five in a row to help his team finish the match on a 6-1 run.

Jared Byas, a senior outside hitter, who had 11 kills, was named to the all-tournament team for Lincoln-Way East (23-6).

“Matt wanted the ball, he demanded the ball,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “Everyone knew it was coming to him and he still terminated.

“To come in here and go 4-1 over the weekend, with our only loss to Glenbard West, I’ll take that any day. We played well against Glenbard West, and to come back and win third shows that we belong in the elite-team conversation.”

Senior middle blocker Braeden Goebbert had seven kills and added three blocks. Setter Evan Dziadkowiec dished out 29 assists, and fellow sophomore Kevin Rodriquez added 16 digs at libero for the Porters, who closed out the second set on a 5-0 run.

“Prom [tonight] is going to be a lot more fun now,” Krzos said. “We lost to Lincoln-Way East last year at state (21-25, 25-21, 25-19) and again the other day (25-16, 25-20 on Tuesday), so this was big. Evan [Dziadkowiec] was just feeding me the ball and I put it away. We pushed through it. We had a couple of big blocks that changed the tempo of the match and cleaning up our serve receive was another big factor.”

Joey Glennon, a junior middle hitter, had six kills for Lincoln-Way East. Senior right side hitter Jon Guch had four kills, senior setter Jerry Moylan distributed 22 assists, and senior libero Sam Szafoni added 16 digs for the Griffins.

“The competition this weekend was the best that I’ve seen at any invite this year,” Lincoln-Way East coach Kris Fiore said. “For us, it’s going to be about looking back at some of the film and figuring out what we have to do in practice to be ready for these high-caliber teams.”