NEW LENOX -- Coach Joann Holverson got a little emotional before the start of Wednesday's boys volleyball match, but she had a pretty good reason to do so.
As Lincoln-Way Central honored the 10 seniors on its team on senior night, Holverson reflected on the importance that this group has had to her program.
And then the Knights went out and beat rival Lincoln-Way East 25-21, 27-25 to help them clinch a share of their first conference championship since 1991.
Central (25-8, 8-1) can capture the outright SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division title today if it registers a victory over Homewood-Flossmoor.
"I got a little emotional before the match because this is more than just a sport to these guys, it's a passion for them," Holverson said. "You like to see people who care that deeply and work that hard be rewarded with something as wonderful as a conference championship.
"We stand a good chance of winning titles on all of our levels, so I feel the program is moving in the direction we want it to go. You have to have variety in your offense if you want to beat East and I really thought that down the stretch the difference was our blocking."
For the Knights, Dan Tanjic and Andy Wingate had 4 kills and 4 blocks apiece and Corey Bingham (3 blocks, 3 aces) and James Cummins also had 4 kills each.
Connor Wexter added 11 assists, Brian Thorp had 8 assists and 3 kills and Bobby Brodinski, Bingham and Thorp led the way in digs for the Knights.
"It was big to get this win so it helps us lock up the conference title," Thorp said. "Also, we wanted to win this match in two and send a message to them since we'll probably see them again in the regional.
"And it was very important for us to win conference, it was one of the many goals that we wanted to accomplish this season. I love playing on this team since we're all best friends both on and off the court."
Central only led East (16-16, 5-4) 18-17 in the opening game before Bingham got a pair of kills and Tanjic added a block to help it open up a 22-18 advantage.
In the second game, Wingate got a block and kill, Tanjic added a block and Bingham served an ace as the Knights went on a 6-0 run to build a 20-14 lead.
But the Griffins battled back and eventually took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Joe Wilhelmsen (4 kills) and moved ahead 25-24 following a long serve.
The Knights closed out the victory by scoring the final 3 points, however, as Tanjic got a kill and a block and Wingate ended it with another block.
"If we beat H-F, we win conference for the first time since 1991, but that's just a step toward bigger goals," Tanjic said. "And it was a great feeling going out on top in front of a great crowd on senior night.
"We picked up our blocking a lot in this match, particularly from Andy, Corey, Ryan (Warning) and I and set a big block and they couldn't put anything down against us and we also played great defense."
Also for the Griffins, Dan Hunt had 14 assists, Mike Bolhuis added 4 kills and 12 digs, Nick Janky had 3 kills and Ryan Walenga contributed 9 digs.
While the Knights completed the two-match SWSC Red sweep over their rivals, the Griffins get a chance for revenge in the Marian Catholic Regional.
"I thought our defensive coverage was good and we did a nice job in the backcourt, but it was just unfortunate that our hitters were not executing as well as they needed to," Griffins coach Dawn Murphy said. "The boys know that the name of the game is execution.
"We challenged their serve-receive but we just weren't able to convert offensively when we had the ball. At this point of the season we need to be in postseason form, so it's a struggle when you're still making too many errors."
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