O'FALLON - Evan Reid led Edwardsville with seven kills, while Preston Weaver had 21 assists as the Tigers' boys volleyball team swept O'Fallon 25-23, 25-17 in a Southwestern Conference match played Tuesday evening at the OTHS Panther Dome.

The win gave Edwardsville a 4-0 start, all in the SWC, and although the Tigers did have some problems with their passing game, the team played very well once again.

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"We had some struggle with passing," said Tigers' head coach Scott Smith, "and we weren't able to have a consistent attack because the passing wasn't as good as it was in the first three matches. But Preston was still able to get to the ball and kept the attacking options open."

The Panthers did very well in keeping the play alive throughout the match, and it helped keep O'Fallon in the match.

"O'Fallon did a great job of keeping the ball from hitting the floor," Smith said, "and keeping the volley alive."

The Panther fans who came out to the match were very enthusiastic throughout, and it contributed to a very positive atmosphere for both sides.

"It's always high energy," Smith said. "O'Fallon had a lot of very enthusiastic fans who cheered their boys on, so it was very, very positive interaction. It was a nice, loud gym, and the players themselves are very vocal in a communications sense, and I respect that."

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Another positive part of the Tigers' game was that they were able to cut down on service errors, and Smith thinks it's one part of their game that can improve.

"Per serve, we had less service errors tonight," Smith said, "and we had nine aces, which is very good. We have a lot of great things going on, and I think serving is one of our biggest things we can concentrate on. We have a lot of skilled servers, we just have to maximize on that ability."

Besides Reid's kills and Weaver's assists, Miles Bell had three kills and a block, Kaden Chiapelli came up with two points, an ace, six kills and a block, Jacob Geisen served up four points, all aces, along with five kills and a block, John Kreke had a good match with four points, two aces and a kill, Liam Marsh served up three points, Reid also served up four points and an ace and Weaver had four points, an ace and a kill.

Yousif Ashkar had two kills and a block for the Panthers, while Alex Koesterer had three kills and 10 assists, Kenny McCallum came up with a kill and a block, Cam Sheehan served up a point, which was an ace, and also had three kills and an assist, Connor Sorgea had four kills and a block and Kendall Walter had a kill.

Kreke, a junior, in particular had a good game, and Smith is very proud of how well he's adapting to the middle.

"The boys are getting better, and I've got to shout out John Kreke," Smith said, "who's getting more comfortable with playing in the middle at such a high level. John was a setter as a freshman, now he's in the middle as context."

The Tigers will next play Belleville Althoff Catholic in a match that will be played at Lincoln Middle School Thursday evening, moved from Lucco-Jackson Gym due to a scheduling conflict, with a 5:30 p.m. start. Edwardsville will then play Marquette Catholic at home on Wednesday, May 12 in a 6 p.m. start.

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