The Oakville Senior High School boys’ volleyball team endured a roller-coaster ride last week.
The Tigers (18-3, 5-1 Suburban West) posted a 19-25, 26-24, 25-17 come-from-behind win over DeSmet.
“Everybody contributed and good teams have to have everyone contribute in order to be successful,” head coach Becky Czup-pon told the Call.
The next day the Tigers fell off cloud nine as they suffered a disappointing 25-23, 22-25, 25-20 loss to Marquette. The loss essentially knocked Oakville out of contention for the Suburban West Confer-ence championship.
“We were coming off beating DeSmet, which was huge,” Czuppon said. “We lost the conference championship when we lost to Marquette, so that’s one less thing to worry about. I think we’re still getting better though and learning from each game.”
In the win over DeSmet, Tigers Ben Duck-worth and Casey Noll led the team in kills with 13 each, and Duckworth added 27 attacks.
Duckworth leads the team this season in attacks at 256 and kills with 129. The junior outside hitter also leads the Tigers with 35 aces and 94 digs this season.
“Ben has really progressed since he’s come to Oakville,” Czuppon said. “When he gets the ball, he knows something is going to happen.”
Noll is second on the team with 230 attacks, 122 kills and 23 aces this year. The senior outside hitter ranks third in blocks with 53 and digs with 75.
“The nice thing about Casey is that he’s getting better in every game,” Czuppon said. “He’s aggressive and big and is a leader out on the court.”
Oakville junior Josh Haegele led the Ti-gers with 36 assists and four blocks against DeSmet. The Tiger setter has a team-leading 449 assists this season.
“Josh is a three-year starter for us that makes things happen,” Czuppon said. “He’s very good at utilizing the other team’s weakness and lately has been blocking the ball really well.”
Oakville plays host to Lafayette at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in its final conference game of the season.
“Lafayette’s got two big hitters that are hard to stop,” Czuppon said. “They’re an aggressive team that we’ve already beaten once, so they’ll be out to get us.”
The Tigers play host to Affton at 5 p.m. today — May 12 — and Eureka at 5:45 p.m. Friday for the regular-season finale.
“We really don’t have an easy week, which I think is a good thing,” Czuppon said.