For the past two years, Drew Fiedler watched Marist win a pair of state championships as a spectator from the stands.
At that time, Fiedler was in awe of Ohio State-bound star Christian Teresi, but he made it a goal to be on the floor playing in the state finals for the RedHawks.
“I looked up the Christian a lot,” Fiedler said. “I knew he was going to be graduating, so I prepared early to fill that role.”
The 6-foot-4 Fielder has been filling that role — and then some.
The junior setter picked up 26 assists and seven digs Tuesday night as the host RedHawks returned to the state quarterfinals with a 28-26, 26-24 win over St. Ignatius in the Marist Sectional championship match in Chicago.
Junior outside hitter Briggs Corona led the way with 17 kills as Marist (32-7) staged comebacks in both games. The Ball State recruit put away a pair of kills after the RedHawks trailed 24-20 in the first game and four kills in a row after they were down 24-22 in the second.
“I play with the same intensity no matter what part of the game it is,” Corona said. “Whether we’re down or up, I try to play consistently. I do what I can for the team.”
Corona added eight digs and three blocks, while Max DeHoyos chipped in with six kills, Mike Forbes tallied five kills and Trevor Gorlewski had eight digs as the RedHawks won their ninth sectional title and advanced to play Lane Tech (26-13) at 2 p.m. Friday in the state quarterfinals at Bolingbrook. Marist beat Lane 25-22, 25-18 on March 28 in the RedHawk Invitational.
Lucca Gambatese led St. Ignatius (22-14) with 13 kills.
For Fiedler, earning the job as starting setter for a team with a shot at winning three straight state titles took some work. He was coming off a broken leg his sophomore year and was a little behind.
“I did a lot of private training and private workouts,” Fiedler said. “I worked a lot on passing and setting. That helped me get ready for this season.”
Marist coach Jordan Vidovic opened up camp unsure how his setting situation would play out.
“We have three very capable setters,” Vidovic said. “Once we got into that stretch playing all of those tournaments, Drew was able to establish himself and what he can bring to the table.
“He made a strong push forward and got more comfortable with the guys around him.”
That includes Corona, who has topped the 330-kill mark this season.
“It’s amazing how well we are working together,” Corona said. “When we started, we really didn’t have that connection.
“We flow so much better now. The progress had been insane.”
Before a big growth spurt during his sophomore year, Fiedler was cast as a setter. His mother, Staci, coached him in grade school and started him out as a setter right away.
“I was always shorter, so my mom had me play setter,” Fiedler said. “I didn’t do a lot of hitting. Then, I had a growth spurt. I was 5-11 as a sophomore and shot up.”
Vidovic is toying with the idea of letting Fiedler take more swings next year as he did when Teresi grew and developed into a strong hitter.
For now, though, the plan is taking an inexperienced team as far as it can go. Tuesday’s win could go a long way in giving Marist a shot of confidence heading into the state quarterfinals.
“We were down a little bit and had a bad rhythm,” Fiedler said of the sectional final. “But we came out of it and broke their rhythm, and it allowed us to come back and win.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
