Girls volleyball: Young Montini hangs with St. Francis

Montini girls volleyball coach Steve Dowjotas is preaching patience these days.

"With a freshman setter and four starting sophomores, every day is going to be a little adventure," he said. "At the end of Game 1 tonight, we didn't have a single upperclassman on the court."

Montini graduated 10 seniors from the team that finished fourth in Class 3A two years ago, and there are only three seniors on this year's roster. Yet despite their youth, the Broncos hung tough Thursday with the visitors from St. Francis.

However, the defending Class 4A champions used a 5-0 spurt to close out Game 1, then scored the final 3 points of Game 2 to turn back the Broncos 25-16, 25-19.

Dowjotas was anything but disappointed.

"The girls are working hard, that's the best thing you can think of right now," he said. "For the middle of September, to be where we're at is fine with me. I'm not disappointed with either one of those games because we played aggressive. Even our mistakes were aggressive."

"We passed well, we served well, we played some solid defense, we got some kills when we needed to," Dowjotas said. "St. Francis is a good team. You always have to expect to play your best to be able to compete."

St. Francis (12-4, 1-0 GCAC Red) demonstrated its veteran poise after Montini erased an 18-10 deficit in Game 1 to get within 20-16, and after the Broncos closed to within 17-16 after trailing 8-1 in Game 2.

"We are a very close team," said St. Francis setter Lexi Byrnes-Hosey. "We have a sense of family. I believe that's true with all St. Francis teams. We are always there for one another no matter what, and I think we're able to calm one another down. We tell each other, 'OK, get the next one.' It's not that big of a deal for us. We move past our mistakes."

Byrnes-Hosey led the Spartans with 16 assists, 3 kills and 2 blocks. Cat Wilson had 5 kills, and Delaney Malloy and Anna Calcagno each had 4. Rebecca Fernandez anchored a strong defense with 17 digs and Jessica McCall added 7.

"They are playing together as a team," said St. Francis coach Lisa Ston. "They're not looking for that one hitter to rely on. They're counting on each other, and all six people on the floor at any moment are contributing."

Bethany Loftus and sophomores Caitlyn Meeks and Johanna Kingsfield each had 3 kills for Montini (3-10, 0-2 GCAC Red). Freshman setter Therese Noonan had 10 assists, and sophomore libero Joslyn Boyer added 27 digs.

"I have a bunch of young kids and the resilience they showed tonight is exactly what you're asking for from them as a coach," Dowjotas said.