PLAINFIELD – Joliet West entered Tuesday night's game with two middle hitters injured and one out with an illness.
However, with the help of outside hitters such as Nate Fleischauer and Tommy Fellows, the Tigers overcame the lack of a center fielder and cruised to a 25-20, 25-13 Southwest Prairie Conference victory over Plainfield Central.
Fleischauer had a match-high 11 kills, followed by Fellows with nine.
It was all Fellows early on, with setter Landon Brower (15 assists) scoring four times as the Tigers quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead. However, Plainfield Central refused to be let down by the Tigers and went on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to 7-6.
In the end, the Wildcats (2-19, 0-4) tied the game at 8-8, and West (20-3, 4-0) came back with two more kills from Fellows, 15-10. took the lead. Fleischauer came in with two kills and a block to give the Tigers a 20-12 lead.
“We have a great team and we trust each other no matter who is on the court,” Fleischauer said. “We had some starters out tonight, so we knew other guys were going to come in and do the job. We know we can play.
“When you have hitters like me and Tommy and a great setter like Landon, it can confuse other teams because you never know who's going to get the ball.”
Plainfield Central continued to fight back, with a 7-1 record that brought them within 21-19, led by consecutive kills from Ethan Ricketts. But West finished the set with a 4-1 run that included an ace from Fleischauer and a block from Drew Johnson.
The Wildcats quickly took a 3-1 lead in the second set with three straight kills from Milo Nelson. West responded with a 7-1 spurt that included an ace by Nolan Fellows and Tommy Fellows and a kill by Fleischauer. Back-to-back kills from Tommy Fellows gave the Tigers a 15-9 lead and they outscored Central 10-3 the rest of the way.
“We had to move some kids around due to injuries and illnesses,” West coach Tara Litwicki said. “There was an adjustment period, but once I got into shape, it was a different game.
“Our players don't make a lot of mistakes. They let the opposing team score almost all the points. We have aggressive outside hitters and Landon Brower sets the pace for the offense. He's very smart and puts hitters in position to get kills.
“We also changed the serve a lot. We want to be aggressive, but we're more focused on placement than power. There's no point in serving even a super hard serve if it goes out of bounds. I want to serve well and start my offense from defense.”
Nelson and Dredyn Sanford each had four kills to lead Plainfield Central.
“Our kids don't quit,” Central coach Robert Richardson said. “We can come back from behind. The important thing is not to fall too far behind from the beginning. We need to be more consistent. Most of the kids are first-year varsity players, so it took them a little while to get used to it.
“I thought [setter] Ethan Ricketts did a great job with both blocks and assists. We are looking for someone to replace him, and he is looking with his senior leadership. I'm glad I got to see that. ”