When two rivals play each other, the atmosphere, no matter where, is going to be at a high. But when the two teams face each other three times in five days, a little familiarity can come into play and help one team more than the other.

That was the case for Minooka and Plainfield North, Southwest Prairie rivals. After defeating the Indians in its previous two matchups, Plainfield North was coming into the Northside tournament on an eight-match winning streak. Minooka snapped that streak in pool play and then evened its season record against the Tigers at two, as they defeated Plainfield North 25-19, 25-16 in the championship match.

“They beat us at their own tournament in the final and beat us pretty bad on Tuesday (25-19, 25-14), so this was pretty sweet,’’ said Nick Vertin, who led Minooka (21-4) with seven kills in the title match.

Game 1 was one full of runs. With Minooka ahead 13-10, Plainfield North (20-3) used a side out and the serving of Peter Bednarz to go on an 8-3 run and force the Indians to burn a timeout. But that timeout is exactly what Minooka needed as it outscored the Tigers 9-1 the rest of the game to take a 1-0 lead.

Minooka used that surge to its advantage in the second game, rushing out to an early 6-1 lead and never looking back. Plainfield North was able to get the lead down to two at one point, but the Indians had an answer for every run that Plainfield North put on them.

Kevin Hannon added six kills for Minooka, while Rick Bishop had four and a team-high six blocks and Jordan Smith dished out 22 assists.

Jake Barber led Plainfield North with eight kills and Jack Krieger added six.

Zion-Benton bounced back from their semifinal loss to Plainfield North to defeat the host Mustangs for third place, 25-10, 25-22.

BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW                                                                               Apr 30, 2011