For L-Way Central boys, it's a hall of turnaround

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CHICAGO HEIGHTS -- After dropping a 25-14 decision in the first game of their regional title match with Providence Catholic on Wednesday, members of Lincoln-Way Central's high school boys volleyball team had a little meeting outside of the gymnasium.

The Knights weren't ready to see their season come to a conclusion at the hands of the rival Celtics, who they had beaten twice before at the start of the season.

Central elevated its play after that and pulled out nail biters in both the second and third games to capture a thrilling 14-25, 25-23, 27-25 victory over Providence in the Marian Catholic Regional finals.

As a result, the Knights (26-11) won their fourth regional title in a row and move on to Friday's T.F. North Sectional against Marist, while the Celtics (23-15) fell short of winning their third straight regional.

"We got beat pretty badly in the first game and the team went out in the hall and had a talk about what we needed to do since we really wanted to continue playing," Knights senior James Cummins said.

"So we came out and fought and we came back. We have a lot of character and fought for every ball and every point and I think that's what won us the match."

In the final game, Providence rallied to claim a 22-19 lead before Central responded by scoring four straight points to grab a 23-22 advantage.

After Mike Sweeney (9 kills) got a kill to help the Celtics take a 24-23 lead, Cummins (12 blocks, 3 kills) answered with a kill to keep the Knights alive.

Following an exchange of kills, Providence looked like it had taken a 26-25 lead on a kill by Denny Falls (12 kills), but the referees ruled that an earlier block by Kyle Overby (6 kills, 4 blocks) and Cummins had ended the play.

A Celtic kill attempt was just out after that and the Knights emerged with the come-from-behind victory over the Celtics, who ended their season in the sectional semifinals last year.

"When they overturned the call it was a momentum changer," Celtics coach Cindy Olczyk said. "In my opinion, that's a replay and instead they went the other way. But these two teams are evenly matched. Lincoln-Way did a nice job and I thought that my boys did a nice job. It was a shame that anybody had to lose, which I would have said whether we won or not."

The Knights owned several three-point leads in the second game before the Celtics rallied behind kills from Brian Urchell (5 kills, 4 blocks) and a block from Jim Connolly (6 kills) to take a 19-18 lead.

Central used a five-point run on a service by Josh Kentner (6 kills, 7 digs) to claim a 23-19 lead and the Celtics could only close the gap to 24-23 after that.

"Every time we play them it's been like this," Knights coach Joann Holverson said. "Both teams play hard and it's great volleyball. When we play it's always intense and emotional and it's always full of ups and downs and some surprises. We've talked about a lot of things, but sometimes I think it has to come from their hearts."

It was all Celtics in the opener as Pat McGuire (6 blocks, 4 kills) and Falls each had multiple blocks and kills to open things up midway through the game.

Other key contributors for Providence were Mike Galgan (19 assists), Kevin Tucker (16 assists) and Kyle Breitbarth (12 digs).

The Knights also received good efforts from Connor Wexter (8 blocks, 17 assists), Adam Sieger (8 digs) and Kevin Benney (6 digs).