St. Francis rallies past Rosary

Ideally for St. Francis coach Peg Kopec her girls volleyball team would find a way to win in a little less dramatic fashion.

But it’s good to know her Spartans know how to win on a night when things aren’t always running smoothly.

St. Francis overcame a 20-13 deficit in Game 1 on its way to a hard-fought 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 victory at Rosary Tuesday night.

St. Francis (13-1, 4-0) stayed perfect in the Suburban Christian Conference while handing Rosary (7-4, 2-2) its second SCC loss in as many nights.

“We didn’t dig ourselves a hole, we dug ourselves a pit,” Kopec said. “We climbed out and jumped back in and they climbed back again. They are little cardiac people.

“The thing I’ll say positive is no matter what they have a lot of perseverance, a lot of determination. I can’t complain about that.”

A 9-point service run Mary Graham turned an early 5-3 St. Francis lead into a 12-5 Rosary advantage.

The Royals stayed in control until a kill by St. Francis middle Daiva Wise started a 12-2 Spartans surge to end Game 1. Taylor Delfino fired an ace for a 24-22 lead, and Carley Warner found a hole deep in the Rosary back line on game point.

“Our team stays very positive,” St. Francis outside Michelle Mclaughlin said. “It was a really tough match. We made a lot of holes. When we get behind we really work on getting out of it and coming back harder.”

It was Rosary who came back in Game 2, not letting the blown lead in the first game keep it down. The Royals led from 5-4 all the way to 23-22 when it looked like St. Francis was about to repeat its first-game comeback.

An ace from Warner tied the game 23-23 before a blast by Amelia Wegman put Rosary back on top. St. Francis was called for a lift on the next point, sending the match to a deciding third game.

For the first time all night, St. Francis played with the lead for most of Game 3. Rosary tied the match for the final time at 18-18, leading to the evening’s most controversial point.

When Rosary coaches protested a call that Wegman’s kill had hit the antenna, the referee gave coach Lisa Kasper a red card. She had been given a yellow card earlier in the third game.

Instead of a potential 19-18 Rosary lead, St. Francis was awarded a point for the red card and a point for the ball being called out to go up 20-18.

“I told my team I’m not really a complainer about the refs,” Kasper said. “They didn’t control the outcome but they definitely made some calls that changed the momentum of the game.”

A kill from Churney took St. Francis to 24-19. Rosary fought off 3 match points helped by kills from Kate Stefanski and Wegman before Churney’s team-high 10th and final kill ended the match.

“They (the refs) were calling it tight all night,” Kopec said. “As long as it is consistent that’s the way it goes.”

Mclaughlin followed Churney with 8 kills and Wise had 6 for St. Francis. McKenna Kelsay led in assists with 16 and Maddie Delfino had 15 digs.

“Our defense tells me a lot of things, where to go, they help me out with that,” Mclaughlin said. “We work as a unit pretty well.”

Nine unforced errors in Game 1 had Kasper frustrated, though she liked how her team responded in the second and third games compared to Monday’s loss at Marian.

“If we clean up our errors it’s a different game,” Kasper said. “I told the girls you have to control what’s going on your side of the net and then those bad calls don’t come into play.”

Wegman (10 kills), Briana Flagg (9 kills), Abby Konovodoff (22 assists), Stefanski (4 kills) and Marissa Prochaska (4 kills) led Rosary’s attack.