Spartans place fifth at Asics
The 11th-place game of the Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley enjoyed a tinge of postseason intensity as two familiar foes met a month earlier than has been their norm.
The girls volleyball teams from St. Francis and Joliet Catholic Academy played for the fifth time in five years Saturday, but it was the first regular-season meeting between the rivals in that time span. JCA knocked the Spartans out of the Class 3A tournament the last two seasons en route to winning back-to-back state titles.
In 2006 St. Francis beat the Angels in a Class AA semifinal on the way to its eighth state championship and defeated JCA again in a supersectional in 2007.
Though the Spartans gave the Angels plenty to think about should the two cross paths again come playoff time, Joliet Catholic outlasted St. Francis 25-18, 29-31, 25-22.
It looked as though JCA (16-3) would sweep St. Francis (22-6) in impressive style until the Spartans rallied late in Game 2. Trailing 23-15, St. Francis reeled off 9 of the next 10 points to knot the score at 24 apiece. The run included 5 of Notre Dame-bound senior Meg Vonderhaar's 13 kills, capped by her back-to-back swings to erase two match points.
"We have a good history with JCA," the 6-foot-2 outside hitter said. "We just realized we needed to set the tone for the next time we play them, if we play them again. We wanted to say who we are."
The Spartans held off 5 match points in all before Vonderhaar eventually clinched Game 2 win with a thundering spike.
"One of the problems we've had all year is closing out teams," JCA coach Christine Scheibe said. "The core of our team is a bunch of juniors. It's a matter of working on that mental toughness to push through and finish games."
The Angels found said toughness in the form of sophomore outside hitter Morgan Reardon, who posted 5 kills and a stuff block in the decisive game to lead JCA to its third straight win over the Spartans.
"We just focused ourselves again and came back in the third game and worked our butts off," Reardon said.
St. Francis landed in the Silver Division after dropping a Friday night match to Venice, Fla. The Spartans won their opening match Saturday against Notre Dame (25-22, 25-18), but they lost a division semifinal match to Sandburg, 25-23, 25-12.
"We beat Sandburg earlier this year, so that was kind of a disappointing loss," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "Sandburg played well; we did not.
"Even in our loss (Friday) night, we played one of the better matches we've played all year. It was pretty solid. We came back and won (Saturday) morning not looking real, real sharp, then we did not look well against Sandburg."
St. Francis finished the Asics Challenge with a record of 2-3. Senior setter Kelly Reinke ended her day with 73 assists and senior Gina Madonia notched 26 digs.