Back at full strength with Zane Westerlund back and healthy after a 12-match absence, Chesterton (23-8) boys volleyball squad has easy time in the quarterfinal round and advances to Saturday semi vs. South Central (27-2)

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton junior volleyball star Zane Westerlund missed 12 matches with a sore back, received good news in the form of clean MRI results on Tuesday, practiced on Wednesday and showed no signs of rust in Thursday’s sectional opener at Washington Township.
Back at full strength just in time for the postseason, the Trojans (23-8) ended Tri-Township’s one-win season with a predictable sweep 25-9, 25-7, 25-16 to advance to a far more challenging semifinal match vs. South Central (27-2) Saturday at 12:30. The winner advances to the 6 p.m. final later in the day.
Chesterton struggled when Westerlund was playing hurt in his final two matches before shutting it down and had trouble initially adjusting without him, then adjusted.
Westerlund was no more surprised by the MRI results that cleared him than he was by the outcome of Thursday’s match.
“It hurt for a good couple of weeks but to be honest, going into the MRI it felt 100%.
Westerlund said he didn’t need any time to get reacclimated to the game when he played it for the first time since the injury in Wednesday’s practice.
“No, no, not at all,” Westerlund said. “I felt refreshed coming in, especially in practice.”
Westerlund explained why he believes the team became better during his absence: “It was probably a good thing for me to be out because a lot of guys stepped up and a lot of guys started meshing playing better together. Now we’re more well-rounded and you just throw me in.”
Initially Coach Cathy Dilbeck stayed with Decland Ringler and Keith Ward in a two-setter lineup, moving Carson Chaffey from the middle to the outside, but once the coach change that and put Ringler at outside hitter, where he excelled, and left Ward as the only setter, things clicked.
Now the team is equally adept with either attack. The Trojans team that South Central scouted Thursday saw Chesterton playing with Ward as the lone setter in the first two sets before Dilbeck gave reserves long runs in the third set and Ward watched.
“Whoever sets, it doesn’t matter because we have weapons, so they’re going to kill it,” Westerlund said.
Westerlund, Peyton Dilbeck, middle blockers Chaffey and Randy Deutscher and Ringler when not setting can all get up high and fire steep shots to put pressure on defenses.
Chafee led the Trojans vs. Tri-Township with eight kills, Deutscher and Ringler had six apiece. Westerlund, who sat out the third set, and Dilbeck had three kills each.
Chesterton looked its most dominant at the start of the second set with Dilbeck serving. The Tigers had trouble returning shots of all varieties, never more so than when Dilbeck was serving. He had six aces for the night and an unusually high ace percentage of 33.
“We didn’t want to slow down and play at their pace,” Peyton Dilbeck said. “We made sure to stay pedal to the metal the whole time. With Zane back, we have a lot of threats at the net and we were all connected again like a family.”
Whichever approach Peyton’s mother decides on for the semifinal, a 6-2 or 5-1, will be comfortable for the players, Peyton said: “We have a lot of threats at the net. Declan is a great player all the way around and we’re comfortable with Keith running the 5-1.”
Host Washington Township and Kouts play in the other semifinal at 11 a.m.
Chesterton rallied back from down 2-1 to end South Central’s season last year in the quarterfinal round of the Michigan City sectional. The Trojans made it to the final, where Washington Township swept them.