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WHEATON – Lincoln-Way West middle hitter Drew Kregul doesn’t have any trouble standing out in a crowd.
The 6-foot-8 junior is an imposing presence on the front line for the Warriors, and they are making a concerted effort to get him the ball more often.
“He’s a great asset to have,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jodi Frigo said. “Obviously, having height is always beneficial.
“We have some senior leaders that played for us last year and those guys are at the pins. So now we are trying to establish our middles and they are also helping us as well, which just make us all-around better.”
Kregul helped the Warriors reach the championship game at the 20th annual Tiger Classic on Saturday at Wheaton Warrenville South. He had a team-high nine kills and two blocks as the Warriors lost to unbeaten Loyola 25-18, 25-21.
“I think it was nice,” Kregul said. “I think we worked well as a team, had to play some rough competition to start, but we battled our way through it.”
Indeed, the Warriors (14-3) upset previously undefeated Belleville East 25-12, 27-25 in the quarterfinals, then outlasted Sandburg 25-20, 26-28, 25-19 in the semifinals after squandering a 24-19 lead in the second set.
“I think we played really, really well this whole tournament, especially in the last match,” Kregul said. “It came down to the wire.
“It’s nice playing different competition that we don’t normally see with Loyola and Belleville.”
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The Warriors actually edged Loyola in kills, 23-22, but the Ramblers (17-0) made only six hitting errors compared to 12 for Lincoln-Way West. The Warriors also had more problems in serve receive in falling behind early in each set.
“They just had really good hitters that are terminating the ball,” Frigo said. “We had some unforced errors early and some missed serves that you can’t give a good team when you’re going point for point.”
Senior outside Jack Lopez had nine kills to power Loyola, which also got five kills from senior opposite Benjamin Trapp, who delivered a key kill after the Warriors had pulled within 16-14 in the second set.
Senior outside Connor Jaral responded with a kill for Lincoln-Way West to make it 17-15, but three Warriors errors in the next five points allowed the Ramblers to pull away.
But the future appears bright for the Warriors with Kregul and junior outside Hunter Vedder, who had six kills, coming up the ranks.
“I think running the middle opens up the whole offense, gives us opportunities to work the pins and just spreads out the offense more,” Kregul said. “As a second-year varsity player in the middle, it’s nice to get more coaching and more chemistry with our team.
“Me and our setter (senior Noah Konopack) have really good chemistry at the moment. I’d say this was one of my better days.”
In other action, Lake Park defeated Wheaton North 17-25, 28-26, 25-20 in the quarterfinals before losing to Loyola 25-18, 15-25, 25-15 in the semifinals. Wheaton Warrenville South began the day 11-0 but was upset by Sandburg 25-19, 25-21 in the quarterfinals.