Boys volleyball: St. Francis grades out well against Naperville Central

The St. Francis boys volleyball team already had some smart seniors.

Timmy Pisarski is ranked No. 1 in his class and Steve Burns scored a perfect 36 on his American College Test.

Combine that with the way the Spartans approached Wednesday's match with Naperville Central, and they received high marks on the court.

St. Francis coach Mike Lynch considered the 26-24, 25-23 nonconference victory in Wheaton his team's best match this season.

"We played together. We were talking a lot. Everybody got fired up, which has been a problem for us," Burns said. "We didn't really play with much energy early in the season. I think it's just everyone actually working together that allowed us to get that win."

Burns had 9 kills for the Spartans (13-5). Other big contributors included Pisarski with 7 kills and 8 digs and two juniors, setter Jack McGuire with 28 assists and 8 digs and libero Tommy LaMantia with 12 digs.

St. Francis still had to fight off game point at 24-23 in the first game and didn't win until its fourth match point after leading 24-20. Junior Sean Riggs ended the match with a tip kill following a dig by senior Nick Roehl.

"I really believe they believe in themselves," Lynch said. "Every day I keep telling them, 'You guys are getting better. Do you feel this?' It's not just the wins. It's just how they're coming together as a team, which is really going to help us as we move on."

Leaders for Naperville Central (8-9) included sophomore John Davis with 7 kills, senior Jeremy Parker with 18 assists and senior libero Alex Bryk with 6 digs.

The Redhawks nearly pulled off another tight two-game victory in as many nights after late rallying past Neuqua Valley Monday.

"We can scrap and we'll fight down the stretch. Sometimes we just make some errors in critical times and it costs us," Naperville Central coach Roger Strausberger said. "It's just a matter of us maturing a little bit and learning from our mistakes and continuing to grow."

Thanks to their experience, the Spartans have improved savvy and desire. They only graduated one player from last season, when they didn't reach at least 20 victories for the first time in program history.

"We've really matured as a team from last year," LaMantia said. "We made a lot of mistakes. We made a little bit of mistakes early on this year because we don't have that many players playing club, but I feel we're going to keep getting stronger."

One huge key to the Spartans' victory was defense - both with digs and 4 blocks for points. Their serve receive limited the Redhawks to five 2-point service runs - two of which came after leading 21-18 in the second game.

"The thing is we're small. We have to play better defense so we work on that a lot," Lynch said. "We got some big digs at key, important times on balls that even a week or two ago were dropping."

Burns' kill off serve receive tied the first game 24-24. The Spartans eventually won the game on a tip kill at the net by senior Matt Baggio, a transfer from Naperville Central after his sophomore year.

In the second game Burns had 5 kills and no attack errors. His first three helped to open a 10-5 lead. Back-to-back Davis kills cut the deficit to 21-20, but the Spartans answered with kills by senior Jack O'Connell and Riggs.

"When they get the ball there (on defense), they can set me, they can set middles," Burns said. "Our middles worked really hard. They were there for the blocks, which opens up the court for me and Tim Pisarski. If they don't do it, then I don't get anything."

This was the first regular-season meeting between these perennial powers outside of invitational play. With fewer matches from a revamped DuPage Valley Conference schedule, the Redhawks had openings. The Spartans had to create an opening now that they're in a conference for the first time, the Chicago Catholic League.

"It's really tough, but we play schools like Naperville Central (because) they're in the playoffs with us but also to prepare us for the Catholic League," Lynch said. "Brother Rice, Loyola, St. Rita - we have very tough competition."