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mokenamessenger.com sports
the Mokena Messenger | May 24, 2018 | 47
fastbreak
Boys volleyball
LW East clinches 8th straight conference title
22nd Century Media File
Photo
1st-and-3
Central track stars
1. Jared Kreis (above)
The sophomore
sensation made
it to state in cross
country in the beginning
of the year, and
now he qualified for
state at the end of
the year in track.
His 2-mile time of
9:42.36 was good
enough to make it to
Charleston.
2. Andrew Englert
Englert made it
down to state for the
second straight year
in the 1-mile race.
At the Homewood-
Flossmoor Sectional,
he was the sectional
champion.
3. Nate Rittenbacher
The hurdler will finish
his high school
with his second
consecutive state
appearance in the
same event. His
300-meter intermediate
hurdle time
of 39.82 was good
enough for second
at the sectional.
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
Lincoln-Way East’s Luis Zavala spikes one between Lincoln-Way West defenders May 15. Zavala had three blocks in the
win over the Warriors, and the Griffins clinched its eighth straight conference title. Julie McMann/22nd Century Media
On an evening that Lincoln-Way
East held its first
ever boys volleyball alumni
match, the current team continued
the tradition many of
those players were part of:
the tradition of winning the
conference.
That’s because East dug
deep and clinched a share of
its eighth straight SouthWest
Suburban Conference title
with a scintillating 22-25,
25-19, 25-23 victory over
District 210 rival Lincoln-
Way West May 15 in Frankfort.
The Griffins (32-3, 8-0
final regular season record),
then finished up the conference
schedule on Thursday,
May 17, with a 25-20, 25-18
victory at Sandburg. That
extended their league winning
streak to 36 straight.
It’s also their 70th win in the
past 71 conference matches.
Their only loss in that time
was 25-18, 21-25, 25-19 to
Lockport Township on April
16, 2015, at Lockport Central
campus.
West nearly broke the
current streak. But the Warriors
(26-8, 7-1 final regular
season record), who beat
Bolingbrook 25-18, 25-20
in their regular season finale,
fell just short.
“It was a conference
game, so it was huge,” East
coach Kris Fiore said. “We
were preaching to our kids
that we had a 34-game conference
win streak [going
in], and had won the conference
title I don’t know how
many years in a row. So it
was really important for us
to get this.
“We talked to our kids
about overcoming inconsistency.
I’m glad that we stuck
it out and continued to play
hard and kind of got through
it and came out with the win.
We got on our guys to pick
up the back row defense, and
we did in game three, and
picked up our net presence
in game three.”
Senior Mike Herlihy led
the way for East with nine
kills and three blocks. Fellow
middle hitters junior
Will McPhillips (8 kills, 5
blocks) and senior Luis Zavala
(3 blocks) also contributed
for the Griffins.
“It was loud, it was exciting,
it was crazy,” Herlihy
said. “But we’re really excited
to keep that streak going.
It was a goal of ours. West
played really well and its
defense is really good. But
[down the stretch] it was 100
percent our experience that
paid off. Being around all of
this prepared us.”
East has been in the state
finals the past two seasons
Please see
volleyball, 44
Listen Up
“These guys all play together and are friends. So
it’s a fun match between crosstown rivals.”
Jodi Frigo – Lincoln-Way West boys volleyball coach, on playing
Lincoln-Way East for the conference championship on May 15
TUNE IN
Softball
11 a.m. Saturday, May 26
• If top-seed Lincoln-Way Central can get past
its regional semifinal game, it will play the
winner of either Minooka or Andrew in the
regional final at Thornwood High School.
Index
40 – High School Highlights
39 – Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Contributing Editor James
Sanchez, james@newlenoxpatriot.com.