EDWARDSVILLE – When it comes to rivalries in the Metro East area, it doesn't get much closer – at least when it comes to distance – to Metro East Lutheran and Edwardsville.
The two schools are virtually next door to each other on Center Grove Road.
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The Knights and Tigers got together Wednesday evening for a boys volleyball match at EHS' Lucco-Jackson Gym, and it looked as though for a bit that the Knights were going to pull off the upset, MEL taking the first game 25-21; EHS, though, bounced back to take the final two games 25-18, 25-18 and run their record to 19-7 on the season; the Knights fell to 12-8-2.
“If you notice, there's a lot of good volleyball players in Edwardsville between the two schools,” said Tiger coach Andy Bersett of Wednesday's intra-city clash. “We've got guys on the bench that I feel like would be starting at a lot of schools and they've got a team – it's a pretty small school – and they come out and field a quality team; they have been for several years.
“They've got big guys – you've got guys like A.J. (Risavy), you got (Braden) Woolsey, you've got (Thomas) Schroader, you've got all sorts of guys who make plays and are just good volleyball players – it's fun, it's nice to have. We've tried to play a challenging schedule, we made sure we added them to our regular-season schedule this year; we want to see volleyball grow in Illinois and we want to play good volleyball teams. They're definitely one of them.”
“All three games were great battles,” said Knight coach Jason Batty. “We always look forward to playing EHS; it's always a fun rivalry and a lot of our players are friends with their players; it's just good friendships. It's always enjoyable to play them; it's a friendly rivalry.
“I'm proud of my guys for hanging and going back-and-forth; just too many missed opportunities we gave away. As much fun as this is playing EHS, it's just a game and we move on. I always tell the guys 'remember the good things and learn from the bad things.'”
Things did go back and forth between the two teams in the opening game before the Knights forged a lead and grabbed the momentum to go on and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Game 2 opened even as well before the Tigers got out to a 9-4 lead; the Knights cut the Tiger lead to 9-7 before Edwardsville regained momentum at 12-8 before going on a run that saw them get the lead to 19-12. MEL managed to cut it to 20-16 before the Tigers went on one final run, scoring five of the final seven points to tie the match.
The Knights got off to a fast start in the rubber game, getting out to a 3-0 lead before the Tigers bounced back to take a 5-3 lead; MEL managed to tie the game at 8-8 and 14-14 before taking a 16-14 lead at one point before a five-point Edwardsville run made it 19-16, enabling the Tigers to close out the match at 25-18.
Nick Allen led the Tigers with 18 kills, with Jack Grimm adding 10 and Evan Billiter nine; Lucas Verdun had 40 assists for the Tigers, Grimm 13 digs and Allen had nine points from serve with three aces; Grimm added eight points with an ace and Billiter three points with two aces. For the Knights, Braden Woolsey had 10 kills and nine blocks on the night, with Risavy 22 assists and Stephen Korte 12 digs.
The Tigers host Granite City at 4:30 p.m. today in a Southwestern Conference match and Vianney at 5 p.m. Monday, while the Knights host Belleville East at 5:30 p.m. Monday and travel to Waterloo Gibault for a 7 p.m. May 10 match.
