Plainfield North likes to have fun. Sometimes, the Tigers like to have a little too much fun.
“They’re a very fun-loving group, but sometimes what happens is they don’t know when to be serious,” Plainfield North coach Tracy Marshall said. “They don’t understand that the moment you step foot on the court, it’s business, and you have to push all the way through. That’s what we’re working on.”
The Tigers were all business Tuesday in Oswego.
Plainfield North got 13 assists and seven aces from setter Shane Yeo, five kills and three aces from Evan Robeck, four kills from Robert Muller and 10 digs from libero Chris Page Jr. to defeat Oswego East, 25-7, 25-20, in the Southwest Prairie Conference.
Plainfield North (9-4, 1-2) is still recovering from the loss of 6-8 middle Kyle Piekarski, who was injured during the club season and is not expected to return. His loss has forced the Tigers to run a faster offense to compensate for their lack of size.
Yeo, who next fall is headed to the University of Mount Olive, an NCAA Division II school in Mount Olive, North Carolina, is the team’s tallest player at 6-4.
“Yeah, we don’t have the big guy that we wanted at the beginning of the season,” Yeo said. “We just make our game faster to make up for it. It’s doable. We don’t see that much of a difference. It just quickens up the game. It makes us a different team.”
Yeo was a difference-maker at the service line Tuesday. He has resurrected his jump-serve for the high school season and his heavy top-spin serve handcuffed Oswego East.
“I took a break from it during club season, then I began working on it again at the start of the high school season,” he said. “It’s been coming together nice.”
Oswego East coach Noel Soto, who lost nine seniors to graduation after last season, believes his team will come together as the season wears on. Tuesday, the Wolves got three kills apiece from junior Adam Densberger and sophomore Colin McClintic, and six assists and two kills from setter Jonathan Bornemann.
“We had a new lineup again because we got one of our guys back,” Soto said. “I challenged them in the second game to come back and they responded. They’re better than what they showed in that first game. We didn’t get the job done, but they kept fighting. They never rolled over.”
Oswego East (4-9, 0-3) might have been caught peeking ahead a little Tuesday, too.
“We have a big match Thursday with Oswego, and I’m not taking anything away from Plainfield North at all, but the guys were already looking ahead to Thursday,” Soto said. “They started talking about it in practice, and I got on them about it. We take one match at a time.
“We’ll bounce back. Once we get our rotation down and keep it consistent, that will help us a lot.”
