Sports
Boys Volleyball: Marist Cruises Past Notre Dame
RedHawks use a fast start to dominate Dons in straight-sets East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.
On its road to repeat as state champions, Marist is off to a good start.
Wednesday night, the RedHawks (15-3, 2-0 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference) continued their stellar play, defeating Notre Dame 25-9, 25-11.
“The kids played hard, they were sharp and they got the job done early,” Marist coach Bob St. Leger said. “That’s all you could ask for.”
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Marist is off to a fast start in conference after defeating on Tuesday.
“It’s good to get off to a good start in conference,” St. Leger said. “There’s some tough teams in our league that we’ll face.”
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Some good news Wednesday also came in the form of middle blocker Jim Mead playing. He had been sidelined by a knee injury. Mead chipped in four kills.
Middle blocker Tony Natalino had four blocks. Natalino has been playing well recently, especially on the team’s trip to Cincinnati this past weekend, where the RedHawks went 2-1. Setter Garrett Dempsey, who had 15 assists Wednesday, said the Ohio trip was a breakout experience for Natalino.
Moving forward, St. Leger said the RedHawks need to focus on improving their late-game execution and their blocking.
“We’re passing the ball well, we’ve got a great setter with Garrett, we’ve got guys that can hit the ball,” St. Leger said. “It’s just a matter of executing at the end of close games, finding out a way to pull out close games against good teams, which we’ve done pretty well, but it can always get better.”
Dempsey also said that the team needs to focus on blocking.
“In general, we’re kind of a smaller team, so I think defense is going to be a big part of who we are,” Dempsey said. “I think we really need to focus on our blocking and defense. Offensively, I think we’re doing pretty well right now.”
This weekend, Dempsey hopes Marist gets another shot at , which has defeated the RedHawks twice already this year. Both Marist and Sandburg are playing at Brother Rice’s Smack Attack Tournament.
“I think we’ll get another shot at (Sandburg), and I think we can take them. We just have to clean up some stuff,” Dempsey said.
St. Leger said outside hitter Kevin Morrison, who has been out with an injury, should play on Thursday at the Smack Attack Tournament.
