Somebody needed to provide some energy.
Homewood-Flossmoor boys volleyball trailed Reavis 11-2 in the third set on April 14. The Vikings looked flat and out of sorts. Coach Mark Ciesielski called a timeout and junior Josh Myers loudly and visibly tried to spark his team.
The very next rally, the 6-foot-8-inch Myers tallied an emphatic kill and followed it with a raucous celebration in a clear attempt to rile things up.
“I love this sport. I love everything about it so if I can bring the energy, I’m going to do it,” he said. “If I need to fire my team up, that’s what my goal is going to be every game.”
Officials gave Myers a yellow card for the celebration, though, and that stymied some of the momentum it may have provided.
H-F wasn’t able to recover and ended up taking its third loss of the season 23-25, 25-22, 25-19. The Vikings beat the Rams in straight sets 17 days before during their home invitational.
“We needed to come out stronger in the third set, coming off a loss (in the second),” Myers said. “If we come into another game like that, it’ll be the same result.”
The first two sets went back and forth, with a combined eight lead changes. The Rams (7-6) took advantage of H-F’s defensive lapses and passing errors to pull away late in the second.
“I wouldn’t blame it on a single person or a single position. It was an all-around loss,” Myers said. “We’re going to go into practice tomorrow and we’re going to do better and come back on Monday.”
That Monday match is at Joliet Central.
Each H-F player left the locker room with head hung but Myers said he thinks they can use it as motivation.
“We can definitely learn off of this. This wasn’t our best loss. We didn’t play good,” he said. “We’re learning and if we come back stronger, that’s always the goal.”
Myers led the Vikings with eight kills. Surendran Heyward had seven kills and 10 digs while Brian Rogers had four and four blocks for the Vikings. Alex Wettstein had five kills and three blocks.
The Vikings (8-3) have almost a full week to let the loss to the Raiders marinate. They’ll then host TF North and Sandburg before playing in Brother Rice’s prestigious Smack Attack tournament.
