Trevians show off ‘scrappiness’ as they outlast Wildkits

Speaking on their team’s identity on Monday night, New Trier players used words like “grit,” “scrappiness” and “juice.” The Trevians needed all three that evening in Evanston.

The host Wildkits jumped out to big leads in both sets, but the Trevians were up to the challenge each time, fighting back for a 27-25, 26-24 Central Suburban South victory on April 21.

“Most of the season, we’ve been starting down but we’ve found a way to get through that adversity and break it,” senior Charlie Tinsley said. “We have a saying on our team: juice. And it’s just about energy and keeping it going. So I think our bench being loud, the court being loud and our focus helped us overcome our challenges throughout the day.”

Evanston didn’t make it easy. The Kits burst out to a seven-point lead, 9-2, and held a lead a majority of the first set.

But New Trier chipped away, though. Soon the score was 10-5. Then it was 13-12. And finally the Trevs tied things up at 21-21 thanks to three straight kills — two from Grantas Vasiliauskas and one from Henry Dolezal-Brandenberger.

The score went back and forth from there. Kills from Joseph Jackier and Tinsley helped New Trier gain an advantage, and a pair of Evanston errors ended the set in the Trevians’ favor.

“I’m proud that we were able to fight through all those points and just slowly make traction on the score,” New Trier coach Sue Ellen Haak said. “. … That was great to see their confidence and fight under pressure. We always have a hard time on Evanston’s court, so I was proud to see them finish.” 

Set 2 had a similar story arc.

The Kits grabbed a 7-2 advantage early, the Trevs crept back in the game (back-to-back aces from Brandenberger tied things at 9-9) and the rivals duked it out from there.

New Trier held a small lead most of the set, but Evanston grabbed it late.

Down 23-21, the Trevians had to rebound. Tinsley came through with a kill and an ace to give his team the lead back, and Jackier finished it off with a slick dump set for the match point.

“They hadn’t seen me do that all game, so just trying to mix it up, show them a new look” Jackier said of the final play. “It was a perfect out-of-system (pass) and I just tossed it over.”

Jackier (6 kills, 18 assists) paused to give credit to the performance of his outside hitters, especially Vasiliauskas, a junior reserve who grabbed a starting role on Monday with senior standout Oliver Potterfield out sick.

“He really played outstanding today, really stepped up for us,” Jackier said.

Tinsley had a team-high 8 kills, while Brandenberger added 7 to go with 3 aces.

Brandenberger credited the team’s defense for willing the team back into the match on Monday.

“I really saw the scrappiness of our team come out throughout the day,” he said. “I think we had a lot of big digs that changed the momentum of the game, and we had some good serving runs that brought us back.”

The win pushed the Trevians to 8-3 on the season and 2-0 in the CSL South. Haak praised her team’s efforts in the early going, outside for a “bump in the road” at the Warren Invite, where the Trevians lost matches to Niles North (11-2) and Warren (14-7).

Coming off a sectional-finals appearance in 2024, the Trevians graduated a lot of talent, including star David Wolff, who is now competing at Stanford University. But this year’s team courts plenty of experience.

Starters Jackier, Tinsley, Brandenberger, Potterfield, Keenan Roderick (libero) and James Hayek (middle) are all seniors. The rotation also includes junior middles Keefer Baxter and Michael Ryan, junior setter Sean Scheppach, and sophomore setter Colin Kim.

Deploying three setters isn’t typical, but Haak said it gives the Trevians more flexibility — for example, it enables Jackier to swing out of multiple slots.

“It allows us to go through all our rotations,” she said. “It’s very rare. … It’s hard for teams to track and makes us really diverse. It’s been fun.”

The Trevians may feature faces that are new to many, but Haak said her team is loaded with athleticism and leadership.

She’s betting they surprise some folks this season.

“So this team is going to go way beyond what everyone thinks they’re going to do,” Haak said. “… We walk out of practice every day, as coaches, and we are super impressed. They never say die. They are all level-headed players who are great teammates and pushing each other. It’s a really nice team to coach. It’s a pleasure.”

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