Boys volleyball: St. Francis finishes 2nd at Streamwood again
St. Francis and Lockport have a pretty good boys volleyball rivalry going, but it's been all Porters lately.
The teams played for the championship of Streamwood's Sabre Invitational Saturday, making it five straight seasons they've met for that title.
St. Francis (6-8) won the first matchup in 2014, but Lockport (15-6) has taken the last four invite titles, including Saturday's 26-24, 25-20 victory.
Considering how young the Spartans are overall - coach Mike Lynch started three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior against a Lockport team led by four-year varsity setter Anthony Pfeiffer - advancing to the title match was encouraging.
"We have three freshmen who start so all these games are great learning experiences," St. Francis senior Henry Breyne said. "While it stinks that we didn't get to win, second place is good. These guys are going to come back here next year and I have full confidence that we can win this tournament."
St. Francis had a chance to take the first set after taking a 22-20 lead but couldn't close it out, partly due to hitting errors and partly due to the skill of Lockport front liners like 6-foot-4 senior hitter Kyle Dixon, 6-6 senior middle Jake Maly and Pfeiffer (6-4).
According to St. Francis 6-foot-7 sophomore middle Bryce Walker, it came down to the Spartans "just making simple errors. It's just being consistent for us, finishing games out. It was a game of errors, especially in that second set with just so many missed serves on both sides."
Walker finished the invite with 28 kills and 12 blocks, freshman KJ Glab had a team-best 37 kills and junior Marcus Ingold contributed 25 kills. All were set by freshman Kevin Shuele, who dished 107 assists over 5 matches. Junior libero Danny Fernandez posted 42 digs.
Lockport was paced by Dixon's 41 kills and 8 aces apiece from Jake Whyte and Patrick Surane.
Leyden (11-6) defeated Wheaton Academy (5-3) in the third-place match, Wheeling (9-6) placed fifth with a win over Bartlett and Elgin took seventh with a victory over the Sabres.
Leyden's win over Wheaton Academy in straight sets avenged a morning pool-play loss. The Eagles lost to Lockport in a semifinal.
"We just didn't rise to the occasion," Leyden junior outside hitter Jason Kemp said of the semifinal. "We're a good team; we know it. Just certain parts of the game, we just have to get into it and realize we can really put up points. But if we were to lose to Lockport, I definitely want to place third. It's not bad."
Wheaton Academy lost senior middle Joshua Walraven to a rolled ankle early in the first set. The Warriors are used to playing short-handed, according to coach D.A. Nichols. They've battled injuries all season and two starters missed the morning session due to ACT testing.
"Eight games and we've really only played one game with everybody here," Nichols said. "We've just had a weird spring."
Wheeling played well in the afternoon session after going 0-3 in pool play. The Wildcats bounced back from a 3-set loss to Bartlett in the morning to beat the same team for fifth place. How did they adjust?
"We listened to what coach (Jason Kopkowski) wanted to do and we wanted to win," Wheeling senior outside hitter Mario Lomanto said. "Serving wise, he wanted us to put the ball in. We didn't serve very well the first time we played them, so our defense was better, first touch, hitting - everything involved in volleyball - we were better."