Wehrli, Benet come back to beat St. Francis

St. Francis knew Benet was looking to Bobby Wehrli for the kill, but there wasn’t much the Spartans could do to stop the Redwings’ 6-foot-5 outside hitter.

Wehrli put down 15 kills, many of them hit with the kind of viciousness that sparks confidence in a team, and Benet rode that momentum to an 18-25, 25-15, 26-24 nonconference boys volleyball victory Wednesday in Lisle.

“Bobby Wehrli, our outside, was outstanding,” Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren said. “The kills that he got for us absolutely set the momentum for us. He played phenomenal.”

It was a special match for Wehrli, who called it one of the best he’s played.

“It’s up there, one of the most exciting for sure,” Wehrli said. “One that I’ll remember. Glad to have this happen my senior year.”

St. Francis (7-3) led the entire way in Game 1, but the Spartans couldn’t sustain that momentum into Game 2, losing easily.

Game 3 looked like it would swing back toward the Spartans, who took a 17-12 lead on a Ryan Coyle kill. But Benet sophomore Garrett Metzger got a kill on the next point, the first of six straight points for the Redwings (13-4), who took an 18-17 lead. The teams traded leads the rest of the game, with nobody having a lead greater than two points.

“I’m just so hyped up right now,” Wehrli said after the match. “We never gave up. There were some points that could have gone either way there, but we kept fighting, we kept fighting, and we put it away. St. Francis is one of our better rivals. Catholic schools, same area and stuff. It’s been a few years since we beat them, but we came out ready to play.”

The third game was a learning experience for a St. Francis team lacking in match experience.

“Benet didn’t win that game, we lost it,” Spartans coach Mike Lynch said. “We gave them that game. We can’t play timid. We’ve got to play every game like it’s game point. It’s a great feeling to walk off the court and lose 26-24 and say we played great, but we just didn’t do that. But it’s early in the year. It’s a real young group.”

Jake Tibble had 13 assists and Robert Smith 10 assists for St. Francis, with Patrick Flood adding 8 kills and Joey Trunk 9 kills.

Luke Ladowski had 9 kills and 13 digs for Benet, Matt Conroy had 9 kills and a block, setterPatrick Dougherty had 45 assists and Kevin Weithers had 14 digs.