On April 9, New Trier and Evanston faced off for the Warren Invite title with the Trevians coming away with a 25-20, 25-17 win over the Wildkits.

Fast forward 11 days, as New Trier traveled to play its rivals in a Central Suburban League matchup with Evanston, a team that had not beaten the Trevians in more than 10 years. The visitors came out victorious again by an eerily similar 25-17, 25-20 score April 20.

“We knew they had big hitters in the middle, right side and outside as well,” New Trier’s Peter Hindsley said. “Coming into this we really focused on our serving in practice and that helped us in the end.”

The Trevians (4-0 CSL, 15-2 overall) were able to get off to a quick start in the first set thanks to three Evanston errors and two kills by Hindsley to lead 7-4. New Trier would slowly continue to build its lead in the first set, eventually making it as large as 14-6. That would be all that the Trevians needed as the Wildkits never got within four points the rest of the set.

New Trier got four kills from Hindsley and two kills from Brian Kaiser in the set. The Wildkits also committed 14 total errors in the set.

“It’s [crowd] intimidating at first, but after we got our groove going and focus on your volleyball, not so much everything going on around us, we settled down and started playing really well,” Hindsley said.

The second set was an entirely different story as the two teams came out evenly matched, going point-for-point until a kill by Kaiser started a 4-0 run by New Trier to give it a 15-10 lead.

But a kill by Evanston, followed by four New Trier errors, caused the Trevians’ coach Sue Ellen Haak to use her first timeout after the Wildkits tied the score at 15.

“Coach told us to calm down and relax our play during the timeout,” Hindsley said. “We split the block and split the hitters and just relaxed after it.”

Whatever Haak said must have sunk in, as New Trier roared to a 7-1 run out of the timeout to extend the lead to 23-16, a lead that would be too much for the home team to overcome.

Hindsley, who recently committed to play at UC-San Diego, had five of his team-high nine kills in the second set. Henry Lindstrom added three of his four kills in the second set and fellow sophomore Joe D’Attomo finished with three kills. Niko Gjaja had 22 assists to help the Trevians stayed undefeated in conference play.

On April 18, Haak became only the seventh coach is Illinois boys volleyball history to win 400 matches when the Trevians held off Niles West 21-25, 25-12, 25-13. Her New Trier career started in 2002 and since then, the Trevians have won four sectionals and finished second in 2007, the program’s best finish since it won the state title in 1995.

“I work at a really great school,” Haak said when asked what the 400 wins say about her career. “I have great players, great support, great parents. It’s really like a coach’s dream coaching here.

“I have great assistant coaches, I’m really grateful. I think I have the best coaching staff in the state, I really do. And I’m not talking about myself. My assistant…they’re phenomenal. That’s really, honestly, what it is. I’ve had a lot of great young men come through the program.”

The Trevians are now off to the Downers South Tournament, one that includes top teams in the area like Wheaton Warrenville South, Lyons, Glenbard East, Barrington and Evanston. Big matchups with rivals Maine South and Loyola also await the Trevians next week.

– See more at: http://www.wilmettebeacon.com/high-school/boys-volleyball-trevians-continue-dominance-over-evanston#sthash.R35C9rZu.dpuf