EDWARDSVILLE - Preston Weaver served up 14 points and had 16 assists, while Jacob Geisen had seven kills as the Edwardsville boys volleyball team swept past Alton 25-8, 25-14 in a Southwestern Conference match Tuesday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The Redbirds showed great improvement from the previous match against the Tigers in Alton earlier this season, but the Tigers led from start to finish.

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"Alton was definitely improved from the last time we played them, which is good," said Edwardsville head coach Scott Smith. "The big thing for us was that we were able to get serves in general in more consistently, and we were able to work with that."

Weaver continues to be the driving force behind the Tigers' success on the court this season, and again against the Redbirds, he had another stellar performance, and there were other players who had a big match as well.

"He's still the staple of our offense," Smith said of Weaver, "and a solid defender. Our wing defenders, in general, Kaden (Chiapelli) and Evan (Reid) had solid performances, and John (Kreke) had some high flying kills."

The Redbirds are improving, and Smith noticed an important difference in them from their first meeting.

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"I think the last time we played them, there was a lot of reliance on a couple of players," Smith said. "But tonight, all six rotations did better in keeping the ball of the ground and putting it over the net."

Miles Bell had two kills and two blocks for the Tigers in the match, while Alan Buss had four assists, Chiapelli had five points, an ace and six kills, Tyler Chrenka had an assist, Geisen had his seven kills, Zach Hoffman served up three points and an ace to go along with his kill and block, Kreke served up five point, and also had an ace and four kills, Liam Marsh had three points and two aces, Reid had three points and two kills and Weaver served up his 14 points, and also had four aces, a block and his 16 assists.

The Redbirds are now 0-7, and play at Belleville Althoff Catholic Wednesday evening, with the match starting at 5:45 p.m, then travel to Father McGivney Catholic Thursday evening and to Metro-East Lutheran May 24.

The Tigers are now 7-0 and have three big Southwestern Conference matches ahead, starting at Belleville West Wednesday at 5:30 p.m, hosting O'Fallon May 25 and a trip to Belleville East on May 27. Smith is looking ahead to the challenges of the conference coming up.

"We're now 7-0, and it's going to be a challenging next few weeks," Smith said, "with West, O'Fallon and East, and we'll see the new (Father) McGivney (Catholic) team on June 2nd, and I'm looking forward to competing against another local team."

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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