Kentucky team sweeps St. Francis

St. Francis has never shied away from facing the best possible competition, which is why the Spartans have already split a pair of matches with powerful Mother McAuley this season.

That's also why they invited Louisville power Assumption to Wheaton on Thursday night, and that's why they'll also play at this weekend's Asics Challenge, which might allow them a shot at avenging Thursday's loss to the Rockets, as well as another crack at Mother McAuley.

The Kentucky school pulled out a tight 25-23 opener against the Spartans, then played a superb second game in completing the sweep with a 25-14 triumph. Assumption, seeded second to St. Francis at the Asics Challenge, received a big effort from setter Shelby Olsen, along with a slew of dazzling defenders who made things difficult on the home team.

St. Francis, playing in front of a big crowd and the school band, trailed much of the first game but did rally from a 22-17 deficit to draw even at 22. Kam Malloy started the string with a kill and Molly Haggerty followed with two thunderous slams as the Spartans battled back.

But a pair of hitting errors followed and the Broncos (22-2) took advantage. They closed the game on a winner by Ana Crockett and then pulled away from an 11-8 lead in the second game with a 14-6 run that ended the match.

"They're a good team. They are," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "The second set was hard for me… . The first set wasn't so hard; 23-25 is more than respectable."

But Kopec felt her team's blocking was not at its best, and that, coupled with Assumption's deep, talented defense, spelled doom for the Spartans.

"I think they have four Division I defensive specialists, so I'd say they pass pretty well," she said of the Broncos. "That's easy to say … to say you want to put the ball down more on them. But with four D-I specialists it's a little tricky."

Broncos coach Ron Kordes, who has guided the nationally ranked program to three straight Asics Challenge crowns, said his team did a great job of touching a lot of Spartans attacks. But as most opposing coaches admit, he was quite impressed with Haggerty, who had 12 kills and 2 blocks for St. Francis.

"That's been our forte; play defense and hope our offense shows up," he said. "I thought we touched a lot of balls, except for Haggerty … one of them went through the defensive player's leg and almost took my head off."

Haggerty expects the Spartans to grow from Thursday's humbling experience.

"I think obviously they're a great team, and the name Assumption maybe kind of got us," the powerful junior outside hitter said. "I think some of that had to do with nerves. We have to be more mentally tough in those situations."

The good news is the Spartans, who already won twice earlier this week before the Assumption match, are right back in action Friday and Saturday at the prestigious event hosted by Mother McAuley. "I think we're going to take this game and learn from it. Whether we play them or not. … Mother McAuley and a bunch of other great teams are there. … I think that loss is something we can learn from. We can learn from the things we made mistakes on and have a good tournament."