Boys volleyball Trojans seeks to find a way to get off to better starts heading into a challenging stretch of the schedule as they put nine-match winning streak and 14-2 record on the line Monday at Lake Central

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Starting Monday, the Chesterton boys volleyball squad begins a nine-day stretch that includes road matches against four of the region’s top squads.
Lake Central (April 20), Valparaiso (April 23), Crown Point (April 27) and Andrean (April 29) have a combined record of 30-7. Chesterton also plays in the Valparaiso tournament April 25.
In order to maximize their chances of winning, the Trojans will need to find a solution for a nagging problem: Coming out of the gate sluggishly.
The Trojans got away with a rough start Thursday night at LaPorte and swept the Slicers 25-19, 25-11, 25-14 and bounced back from losing the first two sets at Illiana Christian to win Tuesday night.
Upcoming opponents are better equipped to make them pay for awakening late.
“The next two weeks, especially on the road, we’re going to see what we’re made of,” head coach Cathy Dilbeck said. “Tuesday night, holy cow, we didn’t hit our stride until the third, fourth set. Illiana was pretty good but they just kind of muscled us up the first set and we just started off so slow. And again tonight, we’re just starting off too slow. Against better teams, they’re going to use that momentum. Against the Lake Centrals and Andreans, we need to do a better job of finding our stride early in the first five points.”
The Trojans sped it up the second set vs. LaPorte (1-11), which had one talented long leaper in 6-foot-4 senior Dimitrius Staggers but lacked the depth to stay in it.
Chesterton won’t be heading into any matches in the near future knowing it can get away with anything but wire-to-wire solid play.
“The first set I think we were losing 18-6,” Dilbeck said of the Illiana Christian match the Trojans won 18-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-10, 15-11.
As he usually does, Westerlund led the team in kills with 16 against IC. His contributions extend well behind the net as well. He’s an effective server, is skilled at keeping the ball from hitting the floor and has a developed all-around game. One thing he can’t do is explain the tendency for slow starts.
“If I knew I’d try to do it, but I think we just need to bring more energy is all I can think of,” Westerlund said. “Not just this year but the year before too, it was always that we started out slow and found our stride and sometimes it was too late.”
Facing undefeated Lake Central (10-0) on Monday, a slow start won’t cut it.
“I think we match up well. I think we’re a good team. I think we can compete with them,” Westerlund said. “I’m excited to play them because they are a good team. And hopefully we can get off to a hot start.”
When last the schools faced off Lake Central took advantage of the Trojans’ slow start and swept the Trojans 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 at Chesterton. Westerlund stood out in a losing effort with 15 kills and a .478 hitting percentage.
The Trojans (14-2) also lost the next day at home to Crown Point in five sets. They put a nine-match winning streak on the line Monday in St. John.