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Girls volleyball: Malloy's return lifts St. Francis against St. Charles North

A win over a solid program always makes for a special senior night, but things were extra special Thursday night at St. Francis.

The Spartans closed out the girls volleyball regular season with a strong 25-21, 25-16 nonconference defeat of St. Charles North in their final tuneup before next week's Class 4A tournament opens. But when senior Kamryn Malloy made her first appearance of the season, entering to serve with the home team ahead 9-5 in the first set, the evening became memorable.

The four-year varsity standout, who played on state championship teams the last three seasons at St. Francis, suffered a knee injury last May playing club volleyball and was believed to be out for all of the 2016 high school season.

But the Indiana University commit returned to action and promptly fired off an ace on the first of her four rotations as a server. When she departed with the team on top 10-6, she received a big ovation from the crowd and had to fight back tears when returning to the bench.

"It was super … I can't describe how it felt," she said. "It was crazy. I really thought I was going to go in just once and the coach was like you're going back. I'm like, fine by me."

Kamryn Malloy took care of her opportunities on the court, and so did her teammates. Her sister Laney Malloy had 4 kills and 5 digs, while fellow seniors Cat Wilson, Becca Fernandez, Alexia Byrnes-Hosey, Jessica McCall and Ally Hafertepe all contributed as the team improved to 27-8.

"I made it a goal to make sure I made all my serves and just did whatever I can for the three or four points I was in," Kamryn Malloy said. "I love volleyball so much and it just comes naturally to me … the first time (out tonight) was really emotional, but the next times I really just wanted to focus."

The Spartans jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set after a diving save by Fernandez set up a kill from Byrnes-Hosey. Fernandez had 12 digs on the night while Byrnes-Hosey had 4 kills to go with another steady night of running the Spartans' 5-1 offense.

A kill by Katie Lanz got the North Stars to within 16-15, but the Spartans closed out the opener and then used a crisp effort to complete the sweep.

"It was very fun," said Byrnes-Hosey, who will play next year at the University of Louisville. "It was a very emotional night, as you can imagine. We're so glad she got to play even just that little bit. Even her serving … she hadn't been able to play in, like, nine months, and it was amazing to see. She's still, like, so in shape and able to get aces. It was amazing."

The Spartans, who added a Class 4A title last fall on top of back-to-back Class 3A crowns the previous two years, dropped a three-set battle on Tuesday against a Geneva team that has only lost five sets all year. The two powers may meet against in the sectionals.

"They're a great team, but I think we can beat them," Byrnes-Hosey said. "Hopefully, we can go to state again this year … we just have to keep getting after it in the gym."

For the 23-11 North Stars, Abby Graham had 6 kills and 8 digs, while Amanda Parker added 4 kills and 14 assists.

"They have great ball control and so it was hard for us to find holes in their defense," St. Charles North coach Lindsey Hawkins said. "So that's great for them, but I felt like we could have done a little bit better job on our end defensively. We just weren't executing defensively that well. We also let them go on a couple 4- to 5-point runs at the beginning of each set that put us down right away, and then it's hard to fight back and get back into it and in a rhythm. So those are things that we're working on to making sure that we're ready for next Tuesday and go from point one."

St. Charles North opens the playoffs Tuesday against Waubonsie Valley.

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