Thu, May 27, 2010
TBA @
Lawrence
| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
| St. John's |
19 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
3 |
| Lawrence |
25 |
23 |
23 |
19 |
1 |
North Reading's Lutz records 30 kills in 3-1 victory over Lancers
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Thursday, May, 27
By Christopher Smith
Staff writer
DANVERS — Lawrence libero Lance Thigpen had the extremely difficult task of trying to dig the powerful shots hammered at him by St. John’s Andrew Lutz of North Reading.
“He’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen,” Thigpen said. “He’s probably got the hardest shot ever.”
Lawrence won the first game yesterday, then Lutz took over, leading No. 1 St. John’s Prep to a 19-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 victory over the No. 5 Lancers in a Division 1 North semifinal match.
Lutz, a 6-foot-7 senior who will play volleyball at Ohio State next year, smashed 30 kills and added three blocks. And he did all that with a strained back and tendonitis in his elbow, he said.
“I’m injured right now but I really don’t care,” Lutz said. “I’m willing to play. I’ll take 10 Advil if I have to. I’m taking six right now.”
Lutz stepped up big after St. John’s fell behind 10-6 in the second game.
“We tried serve to where he would be taken away from the set but they're a steady team,” Lawrence coach Tony Hajjar said. “There’s not much you can say. They’ve got a good couple other players, too. But it was a good battle. It really was.”
Lutz didn’t even start playing volleyball until his sophomore year. He played baseball as a freshman.
“I was always a basketball player,” he said. “I was never a volleyball player. The (volleyball) coach, after a baseball practice, he saw me and he said that if I came out for the volleyball team he'd add six inches to my vertical (leap). I wanted to play college basketball so six more inches is going to do a lot for you in basketball. So I dropped baseball.”
Meanwhile, one bright spot for the Lancers was the play of sophomore Jesus Reyes, who had 10 kills.
Reyes is in his first year playing on the varsity. He never started a match until May 17 against Chelmsford.
“He wasn’t really big for us and then one day at practice he just went off (smashing shots),” Thigpen said. “We put him in the game and he does this every day. He just came in and started putting balls away and now he’s one of our all-stars.”
Every time Reyes scored a point the rowdy Lawrence bench players chanted his name and also got down on their knees and folded their hands like they were praying.
“His name is Jesus so every time he puts the ball away everyone gets down on the floor and it’s like they’re praying to God,” Thigpen said. “When he puts the ball down, it’s something amazing.”
Lutz was impressed with Reyes.
"He’s a big kids, he’s a strong kid and he’s definitely a weapon,” Lutz said. “He can be very good by his senior year. I enjoy the way he plays. He always swings hard and that causes problems. We were closing the block and he was still finding ways to hit the ball through it.”
Lawrence senior Yordano Osoria, whose nickname is Big Baby because he sort of looks like Celtics player Glen Davis, said that Reyes is his cousin and that he thinks Reyes can develop into a true leader for the team in the coming years.
“He loves the sport and puts a lot of time and effort into it,” Osoria said. “He could be just as good as Lutz.”
Prince Hiraldo added 10 kills. Osoria had 10 blocks. Ariel Frias recorded 34 assists. Jose Vargas had 13 blocks.
Game Statistics:
Kills: L — Jesus Reyes 10, Prince Hiraldo 10
Blocks: L — Jose Vargas 13, Yordano Osoria 10
Assists: L — Ariel Frias 34
Service points (aces): L — Vargas 15
Digs: L — Lance Thigpen 5
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