Girls volleyball: St. Francis closes in on history
NORMAL - Some things never get old.
Just ask the St. Francis girls volleyball team and their head coach, Peg Kopec.
Using their experience and extreme talent, the Spartans overwhelmed Cary-Grove 25-20, 25-18 Friday night at Redbird Arena in the Class 4A semifinals.
St. Francis (38-3) will attempt to make IHSA girls volleyball history Saturday when the Spartans take on Glenbard West (36-5) at 9 p.m. for the state championship.
The Spartans will attempt to become the first team to win four straight state titles in the sport, as well as the first team to win a state championship in all four classes.
"We're going to try to make it happen," said Kopec, who has a St. Francis team at state for the 20th time in her 40 years at the school. "It would be unbelievable to do it with this group. If you stop and think about the number of people who never get here and who never have the opportunity, we are blessed to experience the IHSA state tournament."
Winners of the last three Class 3A titles, the jump up to 4A hasn't affected the Spartans' dominance in the least.
"Playing 4A is what we do," Kopec said. "It's where we live."
The Spartans have also lived at Redbird for many Novembers and that experience was evident from the get-go Friday night.
After an 8-8 tie in the first set, a Cary-Grove (35-6) service error gave the Spartans the lead for good at 9-8. They extended the advantage to 15-8 on a kill from junior Kamryn Malloy and even though the Trojans were able to fight back and get to within 17-16 on an ace from senior Erin Olson, a service error gave St. Francis a side out and the Spartans rolled from there, winning the first set on a Malloy kill.
"We came out with a strong game plan trying to shut down Molly Haggerty, but that's almost an impossible task," said Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis of the St. Francis senior and reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. "We had a lot of unforced errors and serve receive errors and we couldn't afford any unforced errors against a team as talented as St. Francis."
The second set was tied 6-6 when a Cary-Grove error gave St. Francis a lead it never relinquished. With Haggerty and then senior Danielle Messa serving, the Spartans opened up a 14-8 lead, which eventually grew to 19-10 on another Cary-Grove error.
Down 24-16 the Trojans, who will play Normal Community at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for third place, were able to stave off match point twice but a kill from Malloy off a perfect set from Messa ended the match.
"It takes a little getting used to, playing in a place like this," said the Wisconsin-bound Haggerty, who led the Spartans with 11 kills while adding 5 digs and 13 service points. "I think our Benet game (in the supersectional) got us ready for this and gave us an advantage."
Malloy added 8 kills to the Spartans' attack while Messa had 18 assists and 7 digs.
"I really look up to Molly and when she's playing good I play good," Malloy said. "And, we have a lot of other players, too."
"Kamryn is one of the hardest workers I know and I love playing with her," Haggerty said. "We help each other out and we're definitely a duo."
Senior Alli Splitt led the Trojans with 6 kills. Maddy Katchen added 4 kills, Sarah Graham had 5 digs and Olson 15 assists.
"I didn't feel we were intimidated, they were just extremely good," said the Bradley-bound Olson of the Spartans. "Shutting down anybody on their team ... someone else just stepped up, no problem."
"We did a lot of good things, I just don't think we had the fire we needed to beat a team like St. Francis," said Langanis, whose previous three Cary-Grove teams to make it to state all played for the championship, with the 2009 team winning the 4A title. "We just need to rally now and come back. We have seven seniors who get to wear the Cary-Grove jersey for one last match and we want to go out on a positive note."
Meanwhile, St. Francis gets a chance to make history against Glenbard West, a school, "just down the road," as Kopec put it, and against Hilltoppers' coach Pete Mastandrea, a one time understudy to Kopec.
"I can tell you many stories about Pete," Kopec joked. "He's a good friend and we're looking forward to playing them."
"They're an outside driven team with an outstanding hitter in Natalie Schilling," Haggerty said of the Hilltoppers. "We'll have to come out strong. It will definitely be a good match."