St. Francis rebounds at St. Ed

After a Monday loss to Rosary, St. Francis needed to get back on track.

A young St. Edward team needed to see what it could do against one of the best offenses in the state.

Both teams accomplished their goals, with St. Francis taking a 25-11, 25-14 Suburban Catholic Conference girls volleyball victory in Elgin Wednesday night.

"Since Rosary, (Tuesday) we tried really at practice to shake off that game," St. Francis senior Megan Barnicle said. "We wanted to play well (against St. Edward)."

Prior to its loss on Monday, St. Francis had been ranked No. 1 in the Daily Herald Top 20, as well as being ranked as high as 13th nationally.

Led by 9 kills from Barnicle, St. Francis (15-1, 4-1) had eight different players with kills, while the Green Wave (4-7, 3-2) had just three players who recorded a kill.

"The have the fastest offense in Illinois," St. Edward junior Kristen Haggenjos said. "We're inexperienced and it's hard to keep up with that. We learned about who could dig balls and who's the fastest blocker."

The Spartans gave the Green Wave's defense a workout. St. Francis finished with 23 kills in the match, St. Edward had 8. Morgan Butler (9 kills, 3 blocks) extended a 6-5 lead with a kill in Game 2. St. Francis then went on to score 5 unanswered points, going up 12-5 before a service error would stop the streak.

"It's very quick," Green Wave coach Jaime Walton said of St. Francis' offense said. "We need to get more comfortable with ourselves."

In both games, the teams were even early on. But from St. Francis' 10th point, the Spartans pulled away. St. Francis took a 10-4 lead in Game 1 and a 10-5 lead in Game 2. The closest St. Edward would pull within was when Haggenjos (4 kills) recorded a kill to make it 12-8 in Game 1.

Behind the serving of Catherine Culligan (14 total points, 3 aces), St. Francis then went on an 11-0 run putting St. Edward down 23-8.

"We were a little hungrier than usual," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "We served well tonight. (But) we still have a lot of work to do."

St. Edward pulled within 17-12 in Game 2 after a rare St. Francis service error. The service error was followed with three hitting errors from the Green Wave and a kill from Barnicle to put the Spartans up 20-12, before they closed out the game on a 5-2 run.

St. Edward got contributions from Katie Yohn (4 kills, 3 blocks) and Stephanie Kunold (3 aces). Michelle Kocher finished with 19 assists for St. Francis.