Langheld accuracy boosts LWE by LWC

Lincoln-Way East's Scott Burke sets a teammate during a 26-24, 25-21 win over Lincoln-Way Central on Monday.
(Larry Kane/For the Herald-News)

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NEW LENOX -- Lincoln-Way East High School boys volleyball coach Dawn Murphy knew the importance of having her players put the ball down against Lincoln-Way Central.

And thanks in large part to a dominating performance from George Langheld, the Griffins executed that game plan very effectively against the rival Knights on Monday.

Junior Langfeld recorded 14 kills, had no hitting errors and added 4 solo blocks to help East beat Central 26-24, 25-21 in a Southwest Suburban Conference Red match.

The Griffins (15-3, 6-0) also received 5 solo blocks and 4 kills from Justin Allen, 6 kills and 8 digs from Tim Huizinga and 28 assists and 6 points from Scott Burke.

"I felt that our offense did a nice job," Murphy said. "Central always has a solid defense so if you put the ball anywhere that's digable, it's coming back up. So our goal was to put the ball down and we worked our offense from the inside out and were able to do that.

"This team is playing well and they know that the only way they're going to be successful is by doing it together. George dominated today but if you look at our numbers we really try to keep them spread out. Our guys come ready to play especially for a big match."

East grabbed the early lead in the both games and was able to hold the lead against the Knights (11-5, 3-2) during much of the match.

In Game 2, the Griffins enjoyed several 6-point advantages before Central closed to gap to two points on a number of occasions.

But East closed out the victory by recording kills for its final 7 points, with 2 each being supplied by Greg Magrum, Langheld and Huizinga.

"Whenever you play Central it pumps you up to play a little better and I felt like I was jumping higher and hitting harder," Langheld said. "We knew we were the better team but anytime you play Central you know they're going to bring their best because of this rivalry.

"When you have three guys who can put the ball down at any point, the blockers don't always know what to do. Ever since we won the Marist tournament we knew that this would the year that we would do good things. We pick each other up and that helps us to play better."

The Knights overcame an early 9-5 deficit in the opener to move ahead 12-10 following a pair of aces and a kill from Adam Sieger (11 digs).

They regained the lead again at 17-16 following a block by Tony Szajkovics (3 blocks) and went up 18-17 after a kill by Kyle Overby (7 kills).

But the Griffins took advantage of some serving errors and then added a pair of kills by Langheld to give them a 24-22 advantage.

Central forced a tie following kills from James Cummins (4 kills) and Overby but East ended things following a hitting error and an ace by Langheld.

"We had to expend a lot of energy in each game just to level the playing field," Knights coach Joann Holverson said. "I thought their middle (Langheld) had an outstanding match. But we missed some serves at critical junctures where we had a good matchup in our rotation.

"We're a young team and the mistakes that we're making are mistakes that young teams make. But as I've told them, we've passed the halfway mark and it's time for them to step up and become seasoned veterans. I have faith in this team and know that they're coming along."

The Knights, who only have 2 seniors on their squad, also received 21 assists from Connor Wexter, 5 kills from Josh Kentner and 3 blocks from Billy Pochron.

"We concentrated on trying to take certain hitters out of the game but we really didn't execute on that," Wexter said. "We came out with a lot of energy as a team and still played pretty decently but we missed a lot of serves. We'll try to go back to playing our game.

"For a young team we have a lot of poise on the court and we also have a lot of firepower but right now we have to work on consistency. I think we're having a pretty good season and as long as we work on becoming more consistent then I think that we'll be good to go."