A 3-0 win over Hebron runs Chesterton boys volleyball record to 5-0 in the first week of the season as team looks forward to Wednesday’s big home match vs. strong Lake Central squad

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The first week of the Chesterton boys’ volleyball season is in the books and with the 3-0 victory against visiting Hebron on Thursday night the Trojans improved to 5-0.
But if Week 1 was akin to Algebra I, then the next test is more like Algebra II.
Lake Central, the team to beat in the DAC, visits Chesterton on Wednesday night.
So, the obvious question is how much of what the Trojans did well to win 13 of 14 sets against opponents Merrillville, Crown Point, LaPorte, Boone Grove and Hebron translates to the uptick in competition that LC represents.
“Well, we have the weapons at the net, that’s for sure,” Trojans coach Cathy Dilbeck started.
Outside hitter Zane Westerlund leads the team with 63 kills, followed by middle blocker Randy Deutscher (39), Peyton Dilbeck (18, sidedlined the first two matches and Carson Chaffee (18).
“We have to get a little bit better ball control so we can get it to those weapons at the net, a little better setting decisions to compete against the Lake Centrals and Andreans,” Dilbeck continued. “We have to be able to speed up our offense a little bit so our pins can have a one-on-one and I think we have a fighting chance.”
If we can get our middles involved early and kind of get them respected, I think that Zane or Peyton or any pin will have a nice night because they’ll have a one-on-one against them instead of ‘Oh, they go to the outside every time.’ ”
Deutscher, 6-foot-9 and has a 7-2 wingspan, so it’s not a reach to think that the Trojans can make any opponent respect the threat he poses.
“They’ll just be camping on Zane and they know he’s our go-to hitter,” Dilbeck said. “So if we can spread out of the offense early and then setters be a little bit trickier with our offense and try to set up Zane for a one-on-one or any hitter with a one-on-one I think we have a really good chance.”
Dilbeck’s definition of ball control starts with “first contact over. And just being better on the the scramble too. If somebody passes off the court then we’re able to run it down and still maybe have an out-of-system attack.”
Setter Declan Ringler does a nice job of running down wayward balls and making something out of them.
Barley surviving a possession to get a weak shot over the net won’t cut it when the competition grows tougher.
“We can’t be sending free balls over to the Andreans and Lake Centrals,” Dilbeck said. “They’ll just throw it right back down our throats. We just can’t. So we have to apply pressure on those types of teams. Tonight we got away with a little bit because they’re a high-mistake team. We’re not going to see that next week, so we have to apply more pressure, for sure.”
Hebron looked particularly overmatched early Thursday night but performed better as the match progressed. Chesterton won by scores of 25-13, 25-14, 25-21.
The Trojans front-loaded their schedule with home matches because the gym floor will be refinished in the near future.
This coming week’s two matches will be played at Chesterton’s gym. In a rematch of Chesterton’s 2-1 win in a season-opening best-of-three tournament, Crown Point visits Thursday night.
While the floor is undergoing a refurbishing, the Trojans will then play their home dates at the Westchester Middle School gym.