Pick your poison with Minooka.
The Indians are loaded with attackers capable of delivering venom at the net. Just ask Hinsdale Central.
“We stopped hitting the ball at them, and all their tools started to come into play,” Central coach Alan McCloud said. “Suddenly, they have four, five hitting options coming at us because we weren’t being aggressive and our serve-receive ebbed.”
Minooka cruised past the host Red Devils 25-20, 25-14 on Wednesday as setter Phil Hanson dished out 23 assists.
“I have four options every play, with three front row and a back row or two front and two back,” Hannon said. “Either way, we always have something open.”
Open is what the Indians were.
Matt Svetlecich had nine kills, Mitch Perinar added six kills and 6-foot-9 middle hitter Justin Toth put up a wall up front, registering seven blocks for the Indians (13-1).
Minooka started slowly in each set, but turned a second-set tie at 11 into a 21-13 advantage after a kill by Svetlecich and a block by Mason Novak.
“Sometimes we get in a rut and don’t really care about anything,” Svetlecich said. “But we can catch fire spontaneously and pick everything up and play really well.”
Jake Regnery led Central (0-5) with six kills. David Winery (5 kills, 5 digs) and Sean O’Neill (9 digs) also chipped in for the Red Devils, who showed fight with 10 lead changes over the first 23 points of the second set.
Minooka’s dynamic 6-foot-6 Maalik Walker credited his team’s back-row defense for the surge.
“It all starts with the pass,” Walker said. “If we get a good pass, our setters can set our options and we’ll just get kills. That’s pretty much what happens.”
Walker attacked the net with bad intentions. His five kills included two vicious ones in the first set that roused the crowd.
