Sports
Boys Volleyball: Richards Pulls off Dramatic Comeback vs. Oak Lawn
Bulldogs rally from 24-20 deficit in third game to gain a thriling three-set victory over crosstown rival.
Down 24-20 in the third game against rival Oak Lawn, Richards was hanging on by a thread.
During a timeout, however, Richards coach Troy Grevengoed demanded perfection from his team, and the Bulldogs responded.
“I said that everything they do out there counts,” Grevengoed said. “They have to finish every block, they have to dig every ball, serves have to be in, and when they get the chance to swing, they have to end the play.”
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The Bulldogs responded, reeling off six straight points to defeat Oak Lawn 25-13, 23-25, 26-24. Richards improved to 17-6 overall and 13-2 in the South Suburban Conference, while Oak Lawn fell to 15-15 and 11-4 in the SSC.
The crosstown rivals entered the match trailing Oak Forest for first place in the conference race, both hoping for at least a second-place finish.
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The Bulldogs came out strong, earning a 25-13 victory in the first game. With Richards leading 13-9, junior outside hitter Jeremy Norton had four aces during a 9-0 Richards run that put the game out of reach for Oak Lawn.
“When Jeremy’s serve is on, he’s a very tough person to pass against,” Grevengoed said.
Oak Lawn responded in the second game, jumping out to a 6-2 lead when senior middle Joe Gasienica won a tip at the net. Richards responded and tied the game at 15.
From that point on, it would be a back-and-forth battle, until Oak Lawn pulled the game out at 25-23 when Richards outside hitter Nick Costa couldn’t get the ball over the net.
The third game was a fight from the very beginning. Richard led 7-4, and then Oak Lawn led 14-11. Then the game was tied at 17.
Oak Lawn began to pull away at that point. The Spartans led 22-18 behind a kill from senior outside hitter Patrick McGuinness. Then, sophomore Marc Hansen had a kill to bring Oak Lawn within one point of victory at 24-20.
That set up the timeout by Grevengoed and the 6-0 run by Richards. With the score tied at 24, Norton had a winner that Oak Lawn was unable to set cleanly. Then, with Richards leading 25-24, Costa read Hansen’s spike attempt perfectly and had the winning block.
“I just went up and knew where it was going,” Costa said. “We had to come back from deficits that were pretty great, but we pulled it together."
Richards setter Nadeem Razick had a career-high 40 assists for the Bulldogs. Costa was the recipient of many of those assists, as he had a game-high 17 kills.
“(Razick) set phenomenally, it’s the best setting I’ve seen from him all year,” Costa said.
For Razick, the victory over Oak Lawn was all about getting the Richards name out there in the boys volleyball world.
“We’ve never had a season with this many wins,” Razick said. “So, we’re just trying to make a better name and a better rep for our program. I think that’s one thing that we did tonight.”
Grevengoed was thrilled that his team defeated Oak Lawn three times this season.
“We got the opportunity to beat them three times this year, which I don’t think they’ve done in a long time, so the guys are very excited,” he said.
McGuinness led Oak Lawn with eight kills, while Hansen added seven kills.
Spartans coach Ryan Skendzel was happy with the fight in his team.
“We fought back and then we just couldn’t put it away,” Skendzel said. “We had a chance, we just couldn’t do it. They played well, they played with energy and they took it over at the end.”
