The Howell North Men’s volleyball team traveled to O’Fallon, IL Friday to play in the O’Fallon Tournament. The boys left school Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. to drive and get set for their first game at 5 p.m. They played Rockwood Summit first, and won that game in two games. After a short break, they played Seckman and won in two games. Since winning both of their games, they won the pool, and advanced farther into the tournament.

“I think the games on the first day went really well,” junior Logan Bergman said. “We played really well as a team and we were all just having fun.”

Since O’Fallon is pretty far away and they had an early game the next day, the team spent the night in a hotel. This has been an annual tradition for the Varsity team. The boys got some time to do some team bonding activities.

“For team bonding we hung out at the hotel, gave each other Mohawks and went swimming,” senior captain Mark Reichert said. “I think the bonding made us work better as a team.”

With all this momentum and new hair style, the team got psyched for their next day where they would be playing three games. Their first game was against Fox, and the team easily beat them in two games, continuing their road to the championship.

“Fox game was pretty simple, we had a lot of momentum and energy, and Fox was not ready for it,” junior Lewis Stein said.

The boys then played what was going to be their toughest match against Oakville. The Knights had the lead the first game 24-18, then Oakville went on an eight point run and ended up winning the game 26-24. This was a tough break for the team, but they still had a chance at third place.

“I think we played really well the first game, but we sort of collapsed at the end of the game and gave them all of the momentum,” Bergman said. “Then we never really found our stride again, and they took game two.”

The Knights will play them again, on Tues.  May 7 which is also Senior Night, and hope to get revenge.

 The Knights then played their last game against Edwardsville for third place. The Knights put in a good fight, but in the end, the Tigers ended up winning in two games. The team got a fourth place in overall in the tournament. The two tournament team players for the Knights were juniors Vlad Shultsev and Stein.

 “I’m happy for being named all tournament team, and there a lot of tough teams and good players,” Stein said. “Overall I played well and was happy to receive the honor.”

This was the farthest the team has ever gotten in this tournament, and the team has high hopes for winning it all next year. All teammates enjoy this tournament because they become closer, and this gives them the encouragement to finish out this season very strong. The Knights only have one home game, Districts, and State games left.

 “The tournament was good although it was a disappointing end,” Reichert said.