VIDEO: Sandburg Boys Volleyball Wins State Title
Don't be fooled by the margin of victory. The Eagles' straight-sets win over Naperville North wasn't without its share of dramatics. And there was plenty of suspense in quarterfinal and semifinal matches, too.
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Sandburg needed to win twice on Saturday to climb to the top of the IHSA boys volleyball mountain.
But, first, the Eagles had to get past a big New Trier team in battle royal in the state quarterfinals on Friday at Hoffman Estates High School. And the Eagles did that, but not without some effort, taking a thrilling three-set match 23-25, 25-28, 25-21.
Glenbard West was next in Sandburg's path. The Eagles swept to a 25-19, 25-23 victory. Then, came the last challenge, the last match of the season vs. Naperville North, the state title hanging in the balance.
The Huskies put up a strong fight, but the Sandburg wasn't to be denied in a 25-15, 25-16 victory thanks to the play of Scott Fifer, Bill Siroky, Tommy Carmody, Kevin Groeper, Jason Fox, Andrew Muys and a cast of thousands of Eagles.
Sandburg used a 13-2 scoring run in Game 1 to pull away after Naperville North had managed to forge a 7-7 deadlock. Game 2 was almost all Eagles.
Read our full written recap of the game.
The state title was the fourth for Sandburg overall and the first for coach Sean Airola. He recorded his 70th career coaching victory to cap his third season on the Eagles' bench.
