Go to link below for the 2014 FVA schedule & standings & All Conference selections
www.fvasports.net/page/show/1251331-boys-volleyball
Varsity
JV Team
Freshmen Team
2014 FVA All Conference
Adam Baltz 12 1st Team Outside Hitter
Mitch Cleveland 12 Honorable Mention Middle Hitter
Fondy falls to Homestead
Homestead 3, Fond du Lac 0: The Cardinals lost in three straight sets, falling 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22.
Adam Baltz led the Cardinals with 16 kills and two blocks. Will Mockert and Holden Gwozdz each had 11 assists.
Fondy head coach Royal Smit said Ian Spletter came off the bench and played a big role for the Cardinals, and was a ‘nuisance’ to Homestead.
Fond du Lac picks up sweep over Green Bay
This past weekend was a rough one for the Fond du Lac boys volleyball team. The Cardinals went a deflating 0-4 at a tourney hosted by Appleton North and needed a serious pick-me-up following that debacle. Fond du Lac got just that Tuesday night.
Led by Adam Baltz’s 12 kills and some clutch play down the stretch, the Cardinals swept Green Bay Preble/East 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 26-24) in a Fox Valley Association match played at Fond du Lac, getting a measure of revenge against the final team that beat them on Saturday. “They were the last team to beat us last weekend, so it feels particularly satisfying to turn things around them,” Fond du Lac coach Scott Stelmacher said. Even though a sweep may indicate a lopsided match, it was nothing of the sort. All three sets were close with the Cardinals needing a near-miraculous rally down 23-20 in the final set. Mitch Cleveland turned the tide in Fond du Lac’s favor in that final set with two key kills to close the score to 23-22. Following a couple of errors from both sides, Cleveland added another kill — twisting his body to touch the ball over with his left hand — to even up the score at 24 apiece. The Storm then followed with two more errors and Fond du Lac emerged victorious. “We knew we needed that third set,” Fond du Lac setter Holden Gwozdz said. “We trusted each other and got the victory.” Added Stelmacher: “We took advantage of some of their misplays. Earlier in the match, we hadn’t been taking advantage of them. We’d been letting their misplays eat us up and we hadn’t dealt something aggressive back. Right at the end there, we were able to take advantage of weak play coming across the net.” Apart from Baltz, who also had three blocks, Gwozdz added 15 assists for the Cardinals and Cleveland had seven kills and five aces. Will Mockert chipped in with six assists and Michael Barbeau had four digs for Fond du Lac (5-8, 3-4 FVA).
The first set was the only point in the match in which the Cards outplayed the Storm from start to finish. Fond du Lac jumped out to a 12-4 lead on the strength of Cleveland and Mockert’s serving and extended it to 18-9. Green Bay Preble/East did make a run to close the gap to 21-17, but that would be as close as the Storm would get.
The second set, like the third, was one that went back and forth until the end. Five Baltz serves, including two aces, gave the Cardinals a 12-5 lead early on, but the Storm battled back to take a 15-12 edge — nearly all of it coming on a 9-0 run keyed by Logan Tillman’s serving. Eventually the set went to a 22-22 tie, but Green Bay had a few hitting errors to close it out, giving the Cardinals the win.
With the home stretch of the season on the horizon, a strong win such as Tuesday’s gives Fond du Lac some momentum back after losing nearly all of it last weekend. “It’s a conference win, so that always means a lot,” Stelmacher said. “We went into last weekend riding high. We really expected to get a couple of wins and surprise a couple people and then we got it all thrown right back at us. So we’ve got this feeling like we’re back on track now and we can start building again and start turning this into the program we want it to be at the end of the year.”
Fond du Lac def. Green Bay Preble/East, 25-18, 25-22, 26-24.
Stat Leaders: Fond du Lac — Adam Baltz, 12 kills, 3 blocks; Holden Gwozdz, 15 assists; Mitch Cleveland, 7 kills, 5 aces; Will Mockert, 6 assists; Michael Barbeau, 4 digs
Baltz leads Fondy in sweep past GB Notre Dame
Adam Baltz could be seen as the doorman of the Fond du Lac boys volleyball team. Yes, the senior outside hitter is the well-deserved focal point of the Cardinal offense, but he’s not the only asset on the Fondy side of the court. And once he gets rolling, he simply opens doors for the rest of his fellow Cardinals. “Everything starts with Adam. Make sure they pay a lot of attention to (Baltz) so the other guys have openings to take advantage of, openings they wouldn’t have otherwise,” said Scot Stelmacher, who is serving as co-coach of Fondy along with Royal Smit. “It’s fun to see it when it’s on.”
Baltz did a lot of the damage but had plenty of help as the Cardinals opened the season with a 25-11, 25-21, 25-10 win over Green Bay Notre Dame on Tuesday night. “It feels great,” Baltz said of opening with the win. “One guy can’t play a team. We have some really good players, some all-conference players on our team, once we get our passing going and get me rolling, get Mitch (Cleveland) rolling, we’re going to be a tough team.” It took Fondy a little bit to find its rhythm at the start of the match before a Mitch Cleveland ace started a run of seven straight points – highlighted by a pair of Michael Barbeau kills – to give the Cardinals a 14-5 lead. Another Barbeau kill and two big kills from Baltz helped Fondy maintain its lead until the Cardinals scored five straight points on Tyler Warntjes serve to take a 22-10 advantage. A Fondy hitting error stemmed the tide, but Baltz answered with another kill and Josh Larson served an ace for the final point of the set.
“First game of the season, you always have the jitters in the stomach,” said Baltz, who led the Cardinals with 15 kills, four aces and two blocks. “But our setter starting getting some good sets, we started getting some good passes and I couldn’t say enough about how the guys did.” The second set proved to be a much tougher win for the Cardinals who trailed 14-11 midway through. Holden Gwozdz had a string of five straight points to give Fondy the lead, but the Cardinals couldn’t pull away – and it was mainly of their own doing. Fondy missed five serves after taking the 16-14 lead, which allowed Notre Dame to keep things close. “That’s exactly what happened. One led to another,” Stelmacher said. “I preach to them over and over to trust in yourself and believing in yourself. And if you see that, you start to get that little shake in the back of your mind. We’re going to talk about it at practice.”
Notre Dame never overtook Fondy down the stretch but did cut the lead to 23-21. Ian Spletter responded with a kill and Notre Dame had a passing error as the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead. “(Going up 2-0) allowed us to do a lot of things in the third set that we wouldn’t have been able to do had we been chasing that win,” Stelmacher said. Notre Dame did win the first point of the third set but it was the Tritons’ only lead as Fondy dominated the play. Larson served seven straight points early on to give the Cardinals a cushion while back-to-back kills from Cleveland pushed Fondy’s lead to 15-4. The Cardinals led by double digits the rest of the way and cruised to the first win of the season. “I have to admit there was some nerves and it’s just a good relaxing feeling going on right now,” Stelmacher said. “It feels much better to have it over with.” Fond du Lac def. Green Bay Notre Dame, 25-11, 25-21, 25-10.
Stat leaders: FDL – Adam Baltz 15 kills, 4 aces, 2 blocks; Mitch Cleveland 4 kills; Michael Barbeau 4 kills; Holden Gwozdz 16 assists, 3 aces.
Fond du Lac looks to challenge once again in FVA
The Fond du Lac boys volleyball team had the most successful season in program history last year. Now, the Cardinals will try to match or better that in 2014. t won’t be easy. In finishing in a tie for third in the Fox Valley Association last year, Fond du Lac established itself as a legitimate power within the area boys volleyball scene. With the loss of a variety of crucial players from last year’s team and the simple fact that teams now know they can’t take the Cards lightly, 2014 will have its share of challenges.
“Last year was definitely one of the most successful years we’ve had,” Fond du Lac coach Royal Smit said. “We were competing with some of the best teams in the conference. We actually ended up taking second place at the conference tournament.” Unfortunately, a good chunk of that team was lost to graduation. Seniors Aaron Wendels, Matthew Dilling and Drew Balken saw their careers come to an end with the Cardinals’ loss to Arrowhead in sectional semifinals last November. Wendels was one of Fond du Lac’s primary hitters, Dilling was the setter and Balken the libero. Replacing that kind of production will not be easy for Smit and the Cards. With an inexperienced team, Fond du Lac will rely on returning hitter Adam Baltz, a senior who teamed with Wendels last year to provide one of the FVA’s best hitting duos. Understandably, Smit is counting on Baltz to step up his game even more in 2014.
“He’s going to be a senior for us this year and he’s going to be one of the top players in the conference,” Smit said of Baltz. “It was fun watching him compete, watching him take a leadership role this summer. Getting the guys together and playing and doing different things. Doing more than players have done in the past.” Apart from Baltz, Smit has an idea of who will step in at the other open positions, but nothing is set in stone yet. Mitch Cleveland is expected to take over as a middle hitter, while Holden Gwozdz will be the setter. At libero, Smit is leaning toward junior Tyler Wendt. Smit specifically talked about libero and the back row in general as an area that his team will need to solidify — receiving the serve and passing the ball cleanly to Gwozdz. As far as expectations for the upcoming season, Smit still hopes his team will be able to compete with the better teams in the FVA, despite the loss of so many key players from last year. Defending state qualifier Kaukauna and 2013 state champ Appleton North are again expected to be the teams to beat, but Smit is looking for another solid finish within the conference. “I’m hoping we can finish in the top half of the conference again, which is always nice. Kaukauna and Appleton North are perennially strong,” he said. “They have a lot of players that play club in the summer. “I think we can compete with them.”
The Cardinals open the season at home today with a big match against Green Bay Notre Dame before hosting Appleton West on Sept. 9.