Rosary has its hands full vs. St. Francis
Rosary didn't have much time to enjoy its Class 3A regional title Saturday night before the Royals began to start thinking of a familiar foe that comes next.
Volleyball heavyweight St. Francis will travel to Aurora at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the semifinals of the Class 3A Rosary sectional.
The Spartans (30-7) defeated the Royals (26-10) twice on their way to the Suburban Christian Conference Gold title this fall.
St. Francis, led by senior outside Meg Vonderhaar (committed to Notre Dame) senior setter Kelly Reinke (Cornell) has won 21 straight regionals and has won 30 or more games 25 times.
What do the Royals need to differently after not winning a game in either of the first two meetings?
“I think we are going to focus on terminating and finishing games,” Rosary setter Lindsay Juriga said. “Because in the past we have played them and been up and we end up losing the game. So our focus in practice this week is finishing points and keeping our energy up. We don't want to get down in our heads.”
Rosary's victory over Aurora Central Saturday was its 10th straight regional title, yet the Royals' only sectional crown came in 1978.
Adding another sectional title promises to be a tall order, both because of St. Francis Tuesday and also Joliet Catholic playing Lemont in the other half of the sectional.
Coach Lisa Kasper is hoping for a reverse of 2007 when the Royals beat the Spartans twice during the regular season before St. Francis turned the table in the sectional.
“Hopefully the third time will be a charm,” Kasper said. “We are going to have to step up our game a lot. We do have a deeper bench this time.”
That deeper bench comes in part from Amy Kus who has returned in a part-time role from a knee injury that sidelined her the entire season until she returned to just the back row three games ago.
In Class 4A, Batavia and St. Charles East earned spots in the Bartlett sectional with two-game wins Saturday. The Saints (26-10) are in the sectionals for the fifth straight year (and have won three straight sectional titles) while the Bulldogs (32-5) are making just their second appearance ever in sectionals.
As No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, Batavia and St. Charles East might technically be underdogs. But the Saints certainly have experience on their side against No. 1 seed West Chicago (30-7) who barely survived St. Charles North on Saturday 25-23 in Game 3.
The Wildcats also are 4-7 after starting the season 26-0. Led by Illinois recruit junior outside Julia Conard and NIU recruit senior middle Emily Paschke, West Chicago has never won a sectional.
Saints junior Meghan Niski, one of those experienced players who helped St. Charles East win the 2008 state title, had a match-high 10 kills in Saturday's win over Glenbard West.
“I think we're definitely a lot more confident (the postseason is here),” Niski said. “Even though we had some bad losses in the regular season, we are here now and we're confident.”
Batavia also is confident after beating Geneva 27-25 in the second game of Saturday's regional final. The Bulldogs are going up against No. 2 York (31-4).
“We have no pressure on us, we want to go out and see how we can do,” Batavia junior Mary Nilles said. “We know they are a strong team but we are a strong team too.”
York nearly won this sectional a year ago, beating Geneva on the Vikings' home court before losing 25-22, 18-25, 25-19 to St. Charles East in the sectional championship match.
“Our confidence is pretty high right now,” said Batavia senior Caitlin Piechota, who had a match-high 15 kills against Geneva.
“We have been playing really well. (Beating Geneva) was a really good confidence boost because we did not let down.”
Bulldogs coach Lori Trippi-Payne said she first new she had something special when she saw how her team handled adversity in the preseason, then with their strong play in a season-opening Plainfield North tournament. Batavia went 4-1 and took the Silver division title.
“This summer I was unsure,” Trippi-Payne said. “I didn't know who would step up in roles. We needed some people to step up and fill those roles (of 4 graduates). As we started going through the preseason with all the craziness, practice at Rotolo, no storage room, stuff everything in a locker room, bringing uniforms from my house, stuffing things in kids' cars and trucks. They kept their spirits up and they didn't care. They just kept hanging in there. I knew we had something special.”