Sports
Boys Volleyball: Marian Catholic Having Fun and Winning
After slow start, the Spartans are making up for lost time; win over Nazareth pulls their record back to .500 mark.
It has been quite a turnaround for the Marian Catholic boys volleyball team. After getting off to an 0-5 start under new coach Bob Piekarski, the Spartans now have won 10 of their last 15 matches.
Their latest victim: Nazareth Academy. Marian Catholic swept to a 25-12, 25-12 victory Thursday on its home floor.
“We all played (well)," Jason Kint said. "We passed and ran our plays well."
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Kint was one of Marian's leaders with five kills, two digs and an ace. Like him, teammate Will Craft has enjoyed the Spartans' turnaround. Craft was particularly happy to see Marian bounce back from a tough loss, too.
“We lost a close one to Joliet Catholic, so it was a good pickup for us," Craft said. "We had better passing, hitting and setting. We win when we have fun and we had fun today.”
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The Spartans were impressive with their serving, their aggressiveness at the back line allowing them to jump out to big leads in both games.
“We struggled with serving before, but we were finally getting aces, getting on a roll," Jay Hochstetler said. "Half the battle was keeping the ball in play. (We) put it all together for a win."
The win improved the Spartans to 10-10 overall and 2-2 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
Craft finished with seven kills and three aces. Hochstetler chipped in three kills and four aces. He also had 17 assists. Dwayne Cecil added four kills and one block kill and Ryan Hutchinson had six digs.
“Our overall performance has been great," Piekarski said. "We keep improving."
