Montini moves to sectional final

Anticipating the moves of one's opponents is common in sports, and girls volleyball is no exception.

It was crucial to fifth-seeded Montini, downing second-seeded Nazareth 25-21, 25-18 Tuesday in the second semifinal of the Class 3A Nazareth sectional. The Broncos (21-11) take on top-seeded Timothy Christian at 7 p.m. Thursday in the sectional final.

The Trojans dispatched Payton College Prep of Chicago 24-26, 25-22 and 25-14 in the first semifinal. The teams have not faced each other this season.

"We communicated well on who was going where on the other side. We watched them on film.," said senior Monica Loftus, who led her team with 11 kills. "And we haven't played against Timothy Christian, but we've watched them play."

Maeve Grimes' kill put Nazareth to within 11-10 in Game 2. Montini then proceeded to go on a 7-2 run, that was capped by one of Loftus' kills, and the Broncos led 18-12 and the lead never was smaller than 5 points the rest of the way.

The Roadrunners pounced on Montini in the opening game, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. The Broncos skillfully worked their way back into the game when two kills and a block by Jordan Bruscianelli, two kills by Mary Bowe and one by Alison Owczarski put Montini up 16-12. Later, the lead shrunk to one point. But two kills by Loftus, a block by Carolyn Strzempek and a Nazareth serve in the net gave Montini the Game 1 victory.

"This feels awesome. This is the farthest that Montini has gone," Bruscianelli said. "This is like a family, and I wouldn't want to play with anyone else."

What pleased Broncos coach Steve Dowjotas was that while some aspects of his team's game weren't working, others picked up the slack.

"The best part is our serve receive and defense were not there. But our offense and setting were awesome," he said. "We are in a right state of mind to go where we want to go."