Girls volleyball: St. Francis claims 26th straight regional title
It may be a lot more fun to slam down a spike than it is to tip a winner over the blockers, but in volleyball they each count for the same one point.
Thursday night St. Francis' top outside hitter Laney Malloy had her share of big swings against Metea Valley, but the Spartans senior was just as effective in her team's 25-15, 25-17 regional title defeat of the Mustangs by tipping winning shots either over blockers or into open spots on the court. Malloy recorded a match-high 12 kills with half coming on powerful attacks and the other half on perfectly placed tips.
"It's hard as a hitter because obviously I just love cranking on the ball and smashing it as hard as I can," said Malloy, who helped St. Francis win its 26th straight regional title. "But I knew in this game that they had a lot bigger blocks than we were used to so I had to tip a lot and be smart with my tips. So I mean I don't like when I have to get a tip kill. I don't feel like it's a kill, but I'll take it."
Metea Valley's best season ever finished at 25-10, but not before the regional hosts threw a couple scares into the defending Class 4A champs, who are seeded third at the Geneva and will take on No. 2 Wheaton North in Tuesday's sectional action. The Mustangs led 10-9 in the first set following a kill from Hannah Brink and were down just 11-10 in the second set after a block kill by Brink. But in each set the Spartans (29-8) continued to play tremendous defense and picked up its attack while closing out each set in impressive fashion.
"We tend to be good under pressure and when our hitters, when something isn't working, I don't know how they do it, but they find a way to put it down and it really helps the team," senior libero Becca Fernandez said after her 12-dig night. "Plus our defense works really well together. We have two (defensive specialists) and me and we work really well together in the back row."
Ally Hafertepe had 7 digs, Maddy Wilkens 6 blocks and even Malloy added 6 digs as the St. Francis defense paved the way to yet another regional crown.
"Metea is outstanding," St. Francis coach Lisa Ston said. "We knew it was going to be a dogfight going in. They have an outstanding program and (Mikalia) Dowd is an amazing outside hitter. They have one of the best blocking teams we have seen all year. So we knew we had to run a quicker offense if we were going to beat them, and the girls did a nice job adjusting to that. And we played tremendous defense tonight."
Mustangs libero Claire Rothenberger, the program's all-time leader in digs, had 13 more.
"We ran into a great team, an awesome team," she said. "It was actually very exciting and we were looking forward to it. It's been a heck of a season. One for the books. If you look over on our record board over there it's going to be entirely new next year. This team has done amazing things. I couldn't be prouder of what we've done."
Metea Valley coach Dave Macdonald also was proud of his team's season and its effort against the Spartans.
"They're an experienced team," he said. "I think we're experienced too. But when you're not in a regional (final) every year like they're lucky enough to be in, you can't prepare for those situations in practice.
"You know it's hard to put the intensity and what's at stake and what they're playing for in practice. They're a very good team and we hung with them and that's why I'm very proud of these girls. This is one of the best teams we've ever had."