OP_041218

44 | April 12, 2018 | The orland park prairie Sports
opprairie.com
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Eagles aim to come out of break reversing losing trend
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
Sandburg’s boys volleyball
team has just about done
it all.
The Eagles have won four
Illinois High School state
championships and brought
home four more top-four
trophies.
They have won numerous
sectional and regional titles.
They won 30 or more
matches 18 times and won
41 matches in 2000.
One thing the Eagles
haven’t done, however, is
endure a losing season. According
to IHSA records,
they are 23-for-23 in .500-
plus seasons.
So the fact that the team
entered this week’s action
with a 5-8 record might be
cause for alarm.
But no panic has set in yet
with coach Dave Vales and
his troops.
“If we finished under .500,
I would be quite disappointed,”
said 6-foot-8 senior
Jake Ostema, who is heading
to Trinity Christian College
in the fall. “But I know
we could do better than that.
We’ve lost a lot of second
sets by two or three points.
If we can come back and refine
some of those things, we
will be looking good.
“I really don’t see us losing
many more times. We
have to get the energy and
the momentum up. We can’t
come out flat. It’s hard to get
on a run when you come out
flat.”
The Eagles are ending a
seven-day break by hosting
Marist on Thursday, April
12,
Prior to the break, the Eagles
were involved in a pair
of wild matches in Orland
Park.
St. Rita came in an
knocked the Eagles off 25-
Will Marks slams down a kill for Sandburg against Hinsdale South in a three-set win.
17, 13-25, 26-24 on April 3.
The match ended with officials
calling a point against
the Eagles when some in the
stands thought the Mustangs
hit the ball out of bounds.
Vales called it a “bangbang”
play that grazed one
of his players’ shirt.
“The referee made the
right call,” he said. “But it
was still a hard way to end
a match.”
Will Marks had 16 kills
against Mustangs and 6-foot-
6 junior setter Cameron Petrusevski
had 19 assists.
That loss gave the Eagles
its second three-game losing
streak of the season but it
was quickly forgotten after a
25-21, 24-26, 25-10 victory
over Hinsdale South the next
day.
The dominance of that
third game helped send the
Eagles into the week-long
break on a good note.
“Between the two matches,
we watched film - we
want to watch more film
with the young kids to they
can see their mistakes,”
Vales said. “It’s one thing to
say it but its another to see it
in video. I have a couple of
kids who have put in hours
this past week looking at
film to try to improve.”
Marks, Ostema and Cort
Jensen each had six kills and
Ostema added three blocks.
Freshman Jeremiah Burden
had 12 digs and Petrusevski
had 19 assists.
The roster features six seniors,
six juniors, two sophomores
and a freshman.
“We’ve had a ton of close
losses with a young roster,”
Vales said. “We need to get
those confidence moments.
When you win these sets by
two points, you can get on
a roll. But when you lose
them, you start getting nervous
about everything. You
get nervous about mistakes.
We need to have more successful
moments.”
Sandburg’s Daniel Gentile (left) and Jeremiah Burden
nearly collide but Gentile was able to get the set off in a
three-set victory over Hinsdale South on April 4. PHOTOS BY
JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Sandburg middle hitter Jake Ostema had six kills and three
blocks against Hinsdale South in Orland Park.