EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville boys volleyball team played very well in the opening set, struggled in the opening of the second set but recovered to finish out strongly as the Tigers defeated Collinsville 25-11, 25-18 in a Southwestern Conference match Thursday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The win put the Tigers back on level terms at 4-4 on the season, and are heading in a positive direction.
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"We won, so we're headed in the right direction," said Edwardsville assistant coach Heather Ohlau, who's running the team in the absence of head coach Scott Smith while Smith is on medical leave. "In the first set, we played very cleanly, we limited our errors. In the second set, we seemed to get off to a slower start, but we finished strongly. We all have areas of improvement to make, but we are going in the right direction."
Some of the standouts for the Tigers on the night were Liam Marsh, who served up 13 points and three aces, Jacob Geison came up with 10 kills offensively, with John Kreke and Evan Reid having five kills each and defensively, Geison and Tyler Cherenka had five digs apiece, while Wyatt Blunt had 22 assists.
The important thing for the Tigers is that they have worked very hard in their practices, and the work is now starting to show dividends in the matches. And the players are also staying resilient as well.
"The boys are putting in the work in the gym," Ohlau said, "and it's starting to show in the matches. The guys are still hanging in there and doing the best they can."
The Tigers play next in the Lafayette Tournament in Ballwin, Mo., in west St. Louis County on Saturday, playing Mehlville at 8:45 a.m., DeSmet Jesuit at 9:30 a.m. and Francis Howell of Weldon Spring, Mo., in St. Charles County, at 11 a.m. in the group stage. Edwardsville then hosts Belleville Althoff Catholic on Tuesday and Alton on Thursday, with both matches set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Ohlau and her team will be concentrating of the Lafayette meet on Saturday and preparing for the final part of the season.
"We're preparing for the Lafayette Tournament this Saturday," Ohlau said, "we'll finish out the conference matches as well as compete in the O'Fallon tournament. And we're still just working out some things of improvement for the final run into the postseason."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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