NEW LENOX -- Providence Catholic's boys volleyball team has been ranked as the state's top team, but on Monday night, the Celtics performed like a squad that could be the state's best.
The Celtics played almost flawlessly during the opening game against Brother Rice in the first-place showdown between the Chicago Catholic League's top-ranked high school teams.
While the Crusaders put up a better effort in the second game, Providence managed to close things out and claim a 25-15, 25-23 CCL victory.
"We worked on serving yesterday," Celtics coach Cindy Olczyk said. "If we serve well, we'll do well because we know that we can pass. And Jonathan (Gustafson) knows where his players are and if we get him the ball, he gets it to his hitters.
"We were so fired up and everything was just clicking for us during the first game. But we knew Brother Rice was going to fight, so we'd also have to fight. I think it was very important for us to win in our own house against a tough team like this."
Providence (15-0, 7-0) used an ace from Eric Daliege (6 kills) to jump out to an 8-2 lead in the opener and senior setter Jonathan Gustafson (23 assists) later added two more aces to increase the lead to 13-4.
Chase Pavlick (12 digs) and Daliege also chipped in with aces later in the first game to assure that the Crusaders (16-3, 7-1) would not get any closer than 7 points back in the opener.
"This was the biggest match of our season so far," Gustafson said. "We knew what we had to do and we all came together. Our serving was amazing, our passing was flawless and I could do anything that I wanted to do on sets.
"Now we know how it feels to play like that. If we can play like that all of the time and also all come together and pick each other up when someone else is down, then great things can happen. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season."
Things were much tighter in the second game as Brother Rice started to get a better handle on Providence's serving and hitting attack, which was paced by Dan Ruzich (8 kills, 9 digs).
Thanks in part to the efforts of Kevin Padden (9 kills) and Steve Mattes (12 assists), the Crusaders only trailed 15-14 before the Celtics started to open things up again.
Providence, which received 16 digs from Brian Urchell, led 21-16 following a kill from Ruzich and took a 22-17 lead after Hayden Grove (5 kills) put down another kill.
Brother Rice managed to close to within 23-22 after a push and then 24-23 following a kill by Padden but Daliege responded to the threat with a kill to end the match.
"This was one of our biggest matches of the season and I think what made it even bigger is that it was at home," Ruzich said. "We know that Brother Rice is always good and we also lost to them three times last year, so that's what fired us up.
"We wanted to come out mentally and physically ready for them and that's what we did. In the second game, we came out a little flatter, but we picked it up. Our defense was great, the serving was phenomenal and we were clicking offensively."
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