NL-041218

46 | April 12, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot Sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Knights’ outside hitters put on show against Glenbrook South
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
Already a varsity veteran
of three years for the Lincoln-Way
Central boys volleyball
team, junior outside
hitter Jack Yurkanin usually
lets his play do the talking.
Yurkanin did that as he
teamed up with senior outside
hitter Garrett McCrea
to combine for 21 kills and
three aces as Central closed a
short stretch of matches with
a 25-21, 25-21 victory over
Glenbrook South on April 4
in New Lenox.
Senior setter Aidan Mc-
Guire (23 assists) and junior
libero Sebastian Olmos (5
digs) for the Knights (8-5),
who rebounded from a threeset
loss the day before to Naperville
Central.
“We’re a rowdy bunch that
really wants to win,” Yurkanin
said. “There’s a lot of
energy on this team.”
While off the court, Yurkanin
is pretty laid back. But
on the court, watch out.
“He’s our most passive
kid,” Central coach Mary
Brown said of Yurkanin.
“Until he goes up to put the
ball down.”
In the opener, Yurkanin
had a half dozen of his 10
kills, including the set winner.
That helped the Knights
to never trail in the first set.
The score was tied just once,
at 3-3. Then McCrea (11 kills,
ace) and senior middle hitter
Joe Claffy put down backto-back
kills in a 4-0 run that
put Central ahead for good.
Leading 8-7, the Knights had
a 7-2 spurt to take charge. An
ace by McCrea gave them a
24-17 lead.
Glenbrook South (0-2),
which traveled in from Glenview
and was treated to a
pizza party after the match,
saved four set points. But
Yurkanin yelped a kill to end
the opener.
“We’re still figuring out
some stuff, but I think we
have a good road ahead of us,”
Yurkanin said. “I thought that
we played pretty well [against
Glenbrook South], and I think
we’re getting better this year.
I want to see us play the toptier
teams as best as we can.
We lost several seniors from
last year, but we have a lot of
players who are coming back
and are filling in the spots.”
The Titans, who played
only their second match of
the season, raced out to a
5-0 lead in the second set.
But Central responded with
five straight points of its own
to tie it and only trailed one
more time (6-5) after that.
The score was tied 13-13
when junior middle hitter
Brendan McCarthy and junior
outside hitter Aidan Heniff
got kills to end a 3-point burst
that gave the Knights the lead
for good. The Titans never
got closer than two points the
rest of the way. A Yurkanin
kill made it 24-20 and after
a side out, McCarthy mashed
a kill to end it. Junior outside
hitter Stephen Daus (4 kills)
and junior middle hitter Jack
Shampine (3 kills, block) led
the Titans.
A year ago Central finished
28-10 and won its third regional
title in four years and
ninth since 2004. But eight
players graduated from that
team, meaning the Knights
had to reload for this season.
“I’m really proud of our
team since we have a lot of
young kids who are coming
up who were sophomores
last year,” McCrea said. “’We
were nervous coming into the
season, so we didn’t start out
that strong, but we’re getting
better and better in each
[match].
“Even though we have a
really hard sectional at Brother
Rice, [with most of the top
teams in the state], I think as
we go through the season that
we’ll be able to fix all of our
errors. We’re a really hardworking
bunch, and we really
bust our butts in practice day
Jack Yukanin spikes the ball April 4 during a nonconference matchup against Glenbrook South in New Lenox. Photos by
Julie McMann/22nd Century Media
in and day out. We have lots
of fire and have a chip on our
shoulders.”
The lineup changes have
worked though.
“Last year, I had to take the
libero and make him the setter,
and I had to do that again
this year,” Brown said of Mc-
Guire stepping into that role.
“He was good enough and
said he wanted to try it and
played club as a setter, and
he’s coming around. It’s just
a little scary since we have
to run a fast offense, and the
timing has to be perfect.
“The key is obviously our
two outside hitters [Yurkanin
and McCrea], who are our
spark plugs. I was pleasantly
surprised as to how the guys
progressed this year. The
thing that I’m still working
on is putting the puzzle together,
since we still really
don’t have a set lineup. We
play really well and then lack
the focus and tend to get a lot
of unforced errors in a row.
Central libero Sebastian Olmos digs a ball.
I knew that it was going to perville Central, Yurkanin
be a work in progress; I just
hope that we can figure it out
soon because once the season
starts, it goes fast.
In the aforementioned loss
the day before against Na-
(14 kills, 3 aces), McCrea (11
kills, 5 digs) and McGuire (22
assists, 4 digs) led the way.
This week the Knights
traveled to Joliet Catholic
Academy on Monday, April
9 and then hosted Richards
the next day in another nonconference
contest. Next
Monday, April 16 brings a
local nonconference matchup
as Central hosts Providence
at 6 p.m.