Redwings finding life tough in conference competition

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LISLE -- The Benet boys volleyball team looked as sharp as a bowling ball on Thursday night in a humbling 25-16, 25-17 loss to Carmel.

Between Benet's hitting errors, passing errors, violations and free balls sent over the net, it was difficult to reconcile this team with the one that brought a six-match winning streak into the week.

"The intensity was there tonight, the enthusiasm, the aggressiveness, but we did not play polished," Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren said.

The loss drops the Redwings (15-7 overall) to 2-2 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. Coupled with Tuesday's loss at Joliet Catholic, one that Van Eekeren termed a total collapse, Benet looks shaky as it gets ready to host the Benet Invitational this weekend.

"This will be a challenge for them as players to see how they come and focus after a loss like this," Van Eekeren said. "I mean really, this is a challenge. This is what makes or breaks you as a player, how you handle a situation like this.

"That's what I teach them as a coach. They have to learn not to look at me every time during the match. I teach my players, 'I coach you at practice and you have got to find a way fight through good and bad situations when you're playing.' We'll see what we do this weekend."

Setter Ben Steele's assist total of 16 is indicative of how the Redwings struggled to get going on offense. Outside hitters Bill Foran and Mike Quigley combined for nine kills. In the middle, Josh Brozek had four kills and two blocks.

Against a Carmel team that won the Libertyville tournament last week, that wasn't nearly enough. The Corsairs (16-6, 4-0 ESCC) have won 11 consecutive matches, and only one during that stretch has gone three games, according to coach Kevin Nylen.

"The biggest thing is they're playing with confidence," Nylen said. "They are walking into the gym now believing they can win, which earlier in the season, we knew we were good, we knew we had talent, we've got eight seniors, but I think it took a while for them to figure it out for themselves."

The offensive totals for Carmel aren't eye-popping, but Benet's sloppy play made that unnecessary. Zach Engels and Joe Sponseller had six and five kills, respectively, on the outside. Middle hitter Josh Garwood added five kills.

"They have a lot of great hitters, a lot of great players," Van Eekeren said. "They served us aggressive. It looked like they made fewer mistakes on their side. To me, tonight we didn't look fine-tuned like we have the past few weeks."

sfuchs@scn1.com nbsp;

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