Lavaja’s 7 kills lift North Stars

Published in the Kane County Chronicle on
March 20th, 2008


Lavaja’s 7 kills lift North Stars
By KEVIN JENISON - editorial@kcchronicle.com
Comments (No comments posted.)-->ST. CHARLES – With standout Rusty Lavaja on the floor, everything seemed to go the St. Charles North boys volleyball team’s way.Behind the dominant play of Lavaja, the North Stars took down South Elgin in two games Wednesday to improve their early-season record to 2-0, winning 22-15, 25-8.Lavaja, the 6-foot-7, Brigham Young-bound senior, led the match with seven kills. “Rusty was always there doing a good job of hitting the ball down,” North Stars coach Brad Mitchell said.Lavaja was happy with his teammates’ contributions, but expects even more from the team as the season unfolds.“We’re a little shaky still,” Lavaja said.Although North had no problem flexing its offensive muscle, the Storm made both games easier with their miscues and lack of rhythm.“Whenever we got the ball in the court we were able to do a couple things with that,” South Elgin coach Joni Melahn said.South Elgin (0-2, 0-1 Upstate Eight Conference) started the first game missing the mark on its first four attempts to give the North Stars a quick 4-0 lead. The Storm couldn’t find a rhythm throughout the match as the North Stars (2-0, 1-0 UEC) pulled away.The second game started in favor of South Elgin after a North Stars violation. But North went on an 8-0 run after that to take firm control.“They gave us a lot of free balls and we had the opportunity to do a lot with it,” Mitchell said.North’s Tyler Hoerner had four kills, while the Storm were led by three kills from Kevin Mui and eights assists from Robbie Vasquez.