Boys Volleyball Wins Down to the Wire Fourth Set to Beat Valparaiso and improve Trojans record to 7-2

Patrick Mochen
Onwardtrojans.com

Coming off of a sweep against Portage, Chesterton boys volleyball beat Valparaiso in four close sets (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 26-24), improving to 7-2. On paper, based on previous matchups, the Vikings were the favorite. Valpo beat Crown Point the night before in four sets, and Chesterton had lost to Crown point in five.
A solid first set by the Trojans, followed by a close second set where the Trojans held a slight edge, gave them a 2-0 lead and looked as if they would send Valparaiso home quickly. Valpo and Chesterton then had an entertaining back and forth for the third set, and the Trojans lost momentum and gave up the third set.
Both teams took full use of their timeouts in the fourth set, trying to stop the other team from going on a run. The result was a set in which neither team could hold a lead for long until the other tied it back up. Some highlights of the set included Zane Westerlund slamming the ball down for the 12th, 13th, and 14th points, sophomore Declan Ringler backsetting the ball to Peyton Dilbeck, who spiked it to the hardwood for the 17th, and senior Keith Ward putting the bench into a frenzy by blocking Valpo’s 6-foot-9-inch Owen Morris for the 19th point. When the game was tied at 22, senior Randall Deutscher got an easy block to take back the lead. Chesterton then gave up two points, and took a timeout as Valpo hovered on match point. Ringler found an empty spot in the back row on a kill to take away Valpo’s match point, since volleyball uses a win-by-two rule. Valpo errors on the next two points gave Chesterton the set, 26-24.
Solid setting from Ward and Ringler all night helped the outside hitters to smack the hardwood. Ringler and Ward both also have great hitting skill, and Ringler thrilled the crowd with his amazing serves. After mentioning the overall great performance of the team, Coach Cathy Dilbeck noted that senior outside hitter Carson Chaffee had a great night. Chaffee is constantly rotating on and off the bench to give Chesterton a different front row personnel group. Westerlund provided a flurry of spikes, and mixed in some tips to throw off the opponent.
“I’d like to see him mix it up a little more,” Dilbeck said. “He jumps so high and has so much power. ‘Westerlund Airlines’, that’s what I call him.”
Westerlund and P. Dilbeck, both outside hitters, play in the back row as well. Dilbeck’s big night wasn’t made up of just a few spikes. Dilbeck impressed the crowd by diving for the ball and getting some great saves in the back row, chasing some that looked out of reach, and of course hitting with tons of power.
“I thought he had a really good night. He didn’t play very well last night against Portage, but he came back and played really well,” the head coach said of her son.
Other notable performances came from senior libero Adam Leneave, who had a sound night on defense and serving, Deutscher, a senior middle whose height allows him to choose between whipping down a hard spike or tipping the ball to an open spot. Dilbeck cited Deutscher’s improvement in the hitting and blocking departments.
The teams meet on April 23 at Valparaiso, so they have two weeks of improvement until the rematch.