When the Whitehall boys volleyball team took the floor for their opening game of 2018, something wasn’t quite right.

It turns out that head coach George Cowitch made a mistake. He “flipped the middles,” putting an outside hitter, in this case Alex Khouri, where Dylan McGinley, a middle hitter, was supposed to be.

Cowitch said that it was an oversight as he was making out the lineup, placing guys next to one another who were not accustomed to playing side by side in the frontcourt.

While it may have played a role in the Zephyrs losing the first set, it didn’t stop them from taking the match in four games winning 3-1.

Whitehall initially thought they won the first set on a kill by Sami Barhoum, but it was negated on a net violation. That opened the door for a 3-0 run by the ’Canes to seal the victory.

The Zephs were able to overcome that lineup glitch in the second set, thanks in large part to the strong net play of Joe Herman. He was putting his stamp on the set midway through the game, registering a number of kills that were either finding open spots on the floor, or careening out of bounds off blockers. The Zephs began to pull away once the junior got going and cruised to a 25-12 win to even the match.

Herman finished the match with 11 kills to lead the team.

With the match now tied, the Zephyrs took control in the third set, opening a nine-point cushion at 23-14 after a Herman kill. While the ’Canes reeled off a few points late in the set, the Zephs were never seriously threatened, taking a 2-1 advantage with the 25-16 win.

Cowitch said that once the third set got underway, their lineup and their proper rotations were back to how it was supposed to be.

“You can see what we can do when we do it the right way,” said Cowitch.

He said that they were able to overcome that hiccup and persevere. They got strong play from a host of players, including Khouri who had nine kills. Khouri demonstrated his quickness in attacking a set, giving the defense little time to react.

“He had a fantastic game,” said Cowitch. “He played really well in the middle and it’s nice to have that.”

Cowitch said that Khouri’s passing skills also allow him to run the middle effectively.

The fourth set was more competitive, but the Zephs rode Khouri’s blasts to help them claim the decisive fourth set, 25-17.

The Zephyrs also limited their unforced errors as the matched progressed, something Liberty struggled to do. Both teams had trouble with service errors, but the Zephyrs were able to decrease those miscues later in the match.

Liberty’s size in their frontcourt gave Whitehall some trouble, especially early in the match. Cowitch said that they made some adjustments and that helped them cope with that size.

“We were able to figure that out, which was nice,” said Cowitch. “We’ll play teams in tournaments where you have bigger guys, so it was nice that we were able to do that.”

Ethan Parvel also had a strong game for the Zephyrs. The junior registered eight kills. Ricky Melosky finished the game with 34 assists.