South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Oakville High boys’ volleyball team extends its winning streak to 18

The Oakville Senior High School boys’ volleyball team extended its winning streak to 18 games Friday with a 25-23, 27-25 win over Suburban West Conference rival Marquette.

Oakville’s win over Marquette not only helped the Tigers stay tied with Lafayette for the lead in the conference standings, but it also sent this year’s senior class out on a high note.

“It was Senior Night, and we had a nice crowd,” Oakville head coach Becky Czuppon told the Call. “Marquette is a good team, so it was a big win for us.”

The Tigers (19-2, 7-0 Suburban West) hope the win not only helped them stay in the running for a potential conference championship, but also helped boost the possibility of Oakville serving as host of a district playoff this weekend.

“The win over Marquette kept us in contention for the conference championship, but it also should help us for districts,” Czuppon said. “So it was a big win for us for a couple of different reasons.”

Oakville senior Ben Duckworth led the Tigers with 14 attacks, three kills, three blocks and 11 assists. The 6-foot-4-inch outside hitter currently is fourth in the area with 0.79 aces per game and also is one of the area’s leaders with 2.83 kills per game.

“After having a great junior year, Ben’s come back and has been a dominant player,” Czuppon said. “He’s a big key to our success and hopefully continued success.”

Oakville’s J.D. Gasparovic also was solid for the evening with eight attacks, six kills and three blocks. The 6-foot-7 middle hitter currently leads the metro area with 112 blocks and is sixth in the area with 140 kills this season.

“J.D.’s been a silent factor for us,” Czuppon said. “He’s very consistent and doesn’t really make a lot of errors. It’s because of players like J.D. that we’re able to do different things offensively.”

The Tigers are back in action at 5 p.m. Friday when they travel to Eureka for a non-conference meeting with the Wildcats. Eureka is 14-10-1 overall and coming off a 25-27, 25-28, 25-22 loss to Lindbergh Friday.

“I watched Eureka play in the (Suburban West/Suburban South) crossover tournament, and they have some good players,” Czuppon said. “We’re going to have to play consistently and just doing what we need to do in order to win.”

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