Wildcats shake off lapses, avoid late collapse

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After seemingly forgetting how to receive a serve in the second game, host Neuqua Valley found itself down four points midway through the third game Wednesday night before closing out Lincoln-Way East.

The 25-20, 21-25, 25-23 victory was the Wildcats' 16th straight, one that was difficult partially because the Griffins presented a challenge and partially because Neuqua lost its focus.

Lincoln-Way East (9-7) dropped in five aces in Game 2 and added two more in the opening stages of the final game. Some were well-earned and two skidded off the net before finding holes, but the rest were because of poor serve reception.

Neuqua coach Erich Mendoza said it was his team's worst passing performance this season.

"I told the guys that's what killed us, our serve receive," he said. "Even, too, when we started out Game 3, our serve receive was just off. The guys weren't talking. And it was basically the seniors. We look to them for leadership and they had a little lapse of judgment I guess, or a little lapse in focus."

Neuqua (23-1) played extremely well in spurts. Brian Clark had five blocks, none more important than his stuff of Mike McKenzie (seven kills) that pulled the Wildcats within 19-18 and forced a Lincoln-Way East timeout.

Jake Blackman struggled with his hitting at times, especially from the back row. But when the ball was sent over to him on match point, the senior put it down cleanly.

"The main thing for us, I try to keep everybody really relaxed," said Blackman, who had 12 kills and two blocks. "Because it seems like if everybody is all, you know, jittery, things don't work out the way we want. So we just try to stay relaxed like it's any other point, like it's any other game."

In the middle portion of the match, the Wildcats had a hard time dealing with Mike Bolhuis and Nick Janky on the outside. The seniors combined for 16 kills, but found no success at the net once McKenzie gave the Griffins an 18-14 lead in Game 3.

"We had them up," Lincoln-Way East coach Dawn Murphy said. "It was a strong three-point lead and we failed to close the door."

Though Neuqua struggled with its passing, setter Sean Harmon was able to distribute to the tune of 36 assists. Outside hitter Rob Bauer had 10 kills, including one that gave Neuqua match point, to go with two blocks. Collin Adler added five kills and five digs.

"It definitely shows us that we can pull through pretty much anything, in any situation," Blackman said. "In the future now whenever we're down we can just remember this and remember this game and pull out the win."

sfuchs@scn1.com nbsp;

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