Milica Tomic, Lake Central show signs of dominance despite record

Story By: Alexander.Burr nwitimes.com
Image: Jeffrey D. Nicholls, file, The Times

ST. JOHN — Following Lake Central’s 2022 run to semi state, it might appear Naveed Nizam’s team isn’t as good as they were a year ago. Take a look beneath the surface, however, and the Indians have been a quality team that’s played a mammoth schedule.

The team’s record sits at 12-12, but Lake Central is 8-2 in conference play. The majority of the Indians’ losses have come to powerhouses like Hamilton Southeastern, ranked third nationally by MaxPreps, as well as Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association No. 2 Cathedral and Chicago powerhouse Marist.

Nizam said that his goal is not necessarily wins, but learning how to win. He pointed out how in Lake Central’s Cathedral match, it played the Fighting Irish tight the majority of the game. He said a lot of the bigger losses have come from fatigue rather than lack of heart or skill.

“That’s how I feel we can best build our program here, is by seeing the best competition and saying ‘this is our benchmark,'” Nizam said.

For Nizam, the tough schedule is to implement the good habits he feels his team needs to win deep in the postseason against a similar caliber of competition, especially given his team lost to eventual champion Hamilton Southeastern at semistate last year. Senior Milica Tomic also believes the tough schedule is preparing the team for the postseason.

“It’s preparing us well because we’re in a lot of tough tournaments, which are some of the teams that we’re going to see in the postseason,” Tomic said. “We saw the same team we saw in semistate last year, and it definitely was a tough game, but it’s preparing us for that time we get there.”

One thing Nizam lauds is Lake Central’s adaptability. While it did lose eight seniors from last year, this team is still veteran laden, but has plugged a hole in the middle with a sophomore, while a freshman is starting on the right side.

“And (Tomic) loves this. Such great targets,” Nizam said. “It’s not, ‘Why is there a freshman here?’ We encourage this, we want this.”

Tomic, who recently passed the 2,000 assist threshold for her career and is committed to play at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has been a mainstay in the Indians lineup since before Nizam’s time there.

“I definitely give a lot of my credit to my teammates because without a good pass, it would not be possible,” Tomic said. “Also without their good swings I would not get the assists, so I definitely give the credit to my teammates for that. But I have definitely worked really hard to get here.”

Nizam said that Tomic brings a lot of value as someone that will do anything that’s asked of her without complaint. If she’s asked to be a setter, she will do it. No problem. If she needs to be a hitter, she will also do that so Nizam can bring in other players that he feels are needed on a given set.

“It gives us a lot of different dimensions, offensively and defensively,” he said.

Nizam said flatly the expectations at Lake Central never change: the expectations are to win. He said the regular season can be used for ironing out lumps and bruises as well as development, but he expects his team to be ready for the postseason. He also said that sometimes the Indians are their own worst enemy.

“How we handle ourselves on the court, our inconsistency at times? We’re our own worst enemy,” Nizam said. “Sometimes we look like we won the state championship, sometimes we feel like ‘What are we doing?’ It’s our kids and we talk to them about it all the time, ‘This is on you, this is your program.'”

Lake Central’s main challenger in its sectional will be Munster, who it is not overlooking after the Mustangs defeated them on Sept. 11.

“Munster beat us at our place, we just have to make adjustments and try to work through our problems,” Nizam said. “And that’s what we did last year.”

Saturday, the team will play in the Carroll tournament, featuring two more tough teams in the No. 9 Chargers and undefeated 3A No. 3 Angola.