Boys volleyball: Plainfield North sweeps past Bolingbrook

BOLINGBROOK – If he was a baseball player, Aidan Cupps would say he was seeing the ball well Monday.

Cupps does not play baseball, but he did make some hard contact for Plainfield North in a 27-25, 25-19 nonconference win over Bolingbrook.

Cupps was the focal point of the offense for the Tigers (12-7), finishing with 10 kills to go with eight service points, including three aces.

“Me and [setter] PJ [Vaughan] have good communication, and we got it going early,” Cupps said. “I was able to get some big swings when we were out of system, and that helped out.”

Cupps was front and center for the North attack from the start, recording a kill for the match’s first point. He quickly added two more, as well as a service point, as the Tigers moved out to a 10-6 lead. The edge grew to 17-8 after Cupps’ fourth kill before Bolingbrook began to chip away.

The Raiders had some powerful weapons of their own at their disposal, and Tristan Benbow delivered back-to-back points on a kill and a block. Later, Tristan Caminar had three kills in four points before Diego Loya and Ayaaz Arif combined on a block to cut the score to 21-18.

Cupps then had a kill and a block back to back to put North ahead 23-18. Four straight Bolingbrook points, including an ace by Trevor Wardlow, brought the Raiders to within 23-22. After a block by North’s Christopher Mactal Jr. made it 24-22, Bolingbrook got a kill from Tristan Caminar and an ace by Tyler Caminar to tie it at 24.

North got a kill from Cupps for a 25-24 lead, but Benbow answered with a kill to tie it again. Cupps then got a kill to put his team ahead 26-25 and served an ace to close the set.

“Aidan had the hot hand,” North coach Nick Ramos said. “The thing with him is that he is playing out of position from what he does in club. He’s a right side in club, and he’s one of the best ones in the state. But we need him to play outside, and he does a great job of that, too.

“We like to think of the serve as another way to attack. I told Aidan to just rip away at it instead of trying to just put it inbounds.”

Cupps feels his coach has sound advice.

“When my serve is on, it really helps us,” he said. “It can get the other team out of system and gives us a good chance at a point if they do return it. We’ve been working on our serves a lot.”

Cupps was hardly a one-man show. The Tigers got a kill and an ace from Tanner Daugherty early in the second set to take a 4-2 lead, and a kill by Cole Clarke and back-to-back aces by Vaughan extended it to 8-4.

Bolingbrook (9-8) kept it close and was within 15-14 after a North hitting error, but the Tigers closed on a 10-5 run to end it. The stretch included a kill and two aces by Cupps as well as kills from Daugherty and Roman Suvatne.

“It’s nice that we have so many other good hitters,” Cupps said. “Other teams get a look at that, and they know they can’t put all their attention on me. That opens me up to hit against single blocks.”

Tristan Caminar led Bolingbrook with nine kills, while Benbow added seven.