Edwardsville remains unbeaten in SWC with victory over Belleville West

Edwardsville outside hitter Jack Grimm had 11 kills while Nick Allen and Eric Brammeier combined for 10 kills as the Tigers remained undefeated in the Southwestern Conference with a 25-17, 25-18 win on Tuesday over Belleville West (7-9, 3-3).

The win for the Tigers (14-4, 6-0) is the 10th in their last 12 matches.

“I know we haven’t played our best volleyball yet. I know we can continue to get better as the season goes on,” coach Andy Bersett said. “Tonight I thought we really spread the ball around well. We had a lot of players get chances.

West, getting seven kills from Tim Neff and six from junior outside hitter Tony Brooks, trailed 16-13 midway in game one. But three service points from Cam Potter and two each from Curt Sellers and Brammeier put Edwardsville at game point. A net violation by the Maroons gave the Tigers the first game.

West coach Austin Betz was impressed by what he saw from the Tigers attack.

“Their defense was just outstanding. The ball wasn’t touching the floor,” Betz said. “I thought we stayed with them for a while. For us to be effective we have to have out middle hitter getting touches. If we do that, teams can’t double team on the outside to where Tony Brooks has to go over a double block.”

A pair of service aces by Grimm helped Edwardsville jump out to a 4-1 lead in game two. Led by Neff and Brooks, West was able to stay close for a while in game two.

Brooks fourth kill of the match cut the Tigers lead to 13-12, but Bode and Allen responded with kills and when Grimm laced a kill up the middle, Edwardsville extended the lead to 16-12.

The Maroons would get no closer than two points the remainder of the night.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Edwardsville remains unbeaten in SWC with victory over Belleville West."