EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville boys volleyball team used the momentum from a loud and enthusiastic crowd to help take a hard-fought 26-24, 18-25, 25-19 win over O'Fallon in the Tigers' Senior Night match Tuesday evening at the Lincoln Middle School gym.
The match was moved to Lincoln on Monday, as the Tigers' regular venue, Lucco-Jackson Gym, was being readied for the Edwardsville High graduation ceremonies this coming weekend, but the Lincoln gym, which was known as Joe Lucco Gym when Lincoln was Edwardsville High, was packed with supporters from both teams, which made for a great atmosphere.
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"It was a very energetic gym," said Edwardsville head coach Scott Smith, "and we had about a high capacity crowd for Senior Night. And it was great to see the Orange Rush (the Tigers' student supporters group) cheer for us tonight."
"The guys put on a great show tonight," Smith said, "emotions were high, and there's about six of our guys who play club with O'Fallon's players, and they know each other well."
One good statistic was that Tyler Cherenka received 30 services during the match, and didn't have a receiving error throughout, which was a big boost for the Tigers. And the most important thing was that Edwardsville didn't let the frustration and excitement of the night get to them.
"There was a lot of frustration and excitement on the guys' part," Smith said. "But they were able to overcome it before the next service whistle."
Miles Bell had nine kills and four blocks on the evening for the Tigers, while Kaden Chiapelli had six points, an ace and five kills, Jacob Geison had three points, two aces, seven kills and two blocks, John Kreke served up five points to go with two kills and two blocks, Liam Marsh served up nine points and three aces, Evan Reid had four points, seven kills and a block and Weaver had five points, two kills and a block to go with his 25 assists.
In the case of Chiapelli, it was a very special Senior Night for him as well.
"Part of the Senior Night was significant is that Kaden has been playing volleyball for seven years," Smith said, "and his last regular season match in Edwardsville was at the place he got started at seven years ago."
The Tigers are now 9-0, and have their final two regular season matches on the road, at Belleville East on Thursday, then finishing the regular season at Father McGivney Catholic on June 2, with both matches starting at 5:30 p.m. Edwardsville has also received the top seed in the their half of the Minooka sectional, and will start the IHSA playoffs June 8 at Belleville West against an opponent to be determined.
The IHSA announced last week that it will hold state tournament series for all summer season sports except for wrestling, and it has given all the teams in the area, indeed the state, a big boost. Smith is looking forward to the postseason series, which will be played after a one-year absence, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I feel the guys earned the seed they received," Smith said, "the seeding was accurate, and I'm really looking forward to postseason volleyball for the first time in over two years."
