The Oak Park River Forest volleyball team flipped the switch just in time to pull off a 25-19, 25-16 win over Riverside Brookfield on Friday night.
Tied at 13-13 in the opening game, the visiting Huskies scored six consecutive points en route to a 25-19 score. The second game offered a similar script as the area rivals battled to a 10-10 draw before the Huskies rattled off 15 of the final 21 points to clinch the match.
Charlie Kahn (7 kills, block, and ace), Sam Hines (6 kills), Benjamin Rains (5 kills, block) and Blake Austin (3 blocks) led the way for a relatively lackluster showing from the Huskies.
“It just wasn’t a great match technically or stats-wise,” OPRF coach Don August said. “Riverside Brookfield had 19 points in the first game, but we gave them 13 of those points with [10] service errors and [three] hitting errors. It wasn’t a stellar night serving for us. No disrespect to RB, but we had a size advantage and an experience advantage.”
Like August, RB coach Dan Bonarigo clearly respects the familiar foe, but he was primarily concerned about his team’s choppy performance. For the match, RB tallied only four kills and an ace.
“Oak Park defended us well,” Bonarigo said. “A big theme for us this season has been ‘end the run at two points.’ A lot of the matches we have lost, I can point to a run where the other team runs off several points. Oak Park helped us with errors they made, but we were playing with them point for point. Oak Park had a couple of those runs, and that was the difference in the match.”
Thanks to the Huskies’ victory, OPRF and RB share identical 7-11 records. Last spring, OPRF knocked off Riverside Brookfield in a thrilling 25-27, 25-20, 25-23 comeback win in Oak Park.
“It’s always a nice match to play a local team,” said August about the good-natured rivalry. “The quality of talent reflects the level of play each year. Last year was a very close, exciting game. I was expecting the same kind of game this year, but I think RB has been struggling a little bit.”
Last week, OPRF split its other two matches, defeating Downers Grove North 25-19, 24-26, 25-20 and losing to Morton 25-19, 25-15. The Huskies’ effective twin towers tandem of the 6-foot-5 Kahn (6 kills, 4 blocks) and 6-7 Austin (5 kills and 4 blocks) controlled the middle against Downers.
August also lauded team captain/sophomore setter Tim Schmidt and seniors Ian Squires and Drew Sumner as key contributors this spring.
“Although he’s relatively inexperienced, Tim does a good job running our team,” August said. “Drew is not a big stats guy, but he’s having a strong season.”
The Huskies travel to Downers Grove South this weekend for a tournament.