St. Francis geared up for a Challenge

The Nike Challenge lives up to its name no matter who you are.

The girls volleyball tournament, now in its 21st year, brings together not only some of the best programs in the Chicago area, but also a few of the top teams in the country.

It's not a competition where you can expect to come out unscathed. A team from Illinois has won the tournament only three times, and it was the same school on each occasion: Mother McAuley in 1991, 1995 and 1998.

Last year St. Francis lost just two matches on the way to winning the Class AA title. They both came in the Nike Challenge -- to Assumption of Louisville, Ky., and La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, Calif.

"If you can handle the losses, the Nike Challenge is an excellent experience," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said.

The Spartans are seeded fourth behind seven-time Nike Challenge champion Assumption, Lone Peak of Highland, Utah, and host McAuley.

The best the Spartans finished in the tourney was second in 2003. They're looking to face the usual tough competition they annual receive in the event, which runs today and Saturday.

"We are ready to be challenged and I'm sure we will be," Kopec said. "I like the Nike Challenge. You certainly find out where you stack up against the top teams in the nation. I think it's fun to play people from other areas. My personal goal is to get in the Gold Division."

Joliet Catholic is seeded fifth followed by Sacred Heart of Louisville, Stagg and Downers Grove South.

"Whenever we go into a tournament our goal is to improve our seed," Downers South coach Colleen Reagan said. "It's a great field and our best finish there ever has been fourth, so certainly any improvement on that is certainly a goal."

Downers North is seeded 16th. The Trojans will be looking to turn around their fortune against top opponents.

"We need to step up and beat a good team," Downers North coach Laura Johnwick said. "I mean, we beat Naperville Central without their setter, but in big matches we have yet to step up."

Not satisfied:ŒWhen Neuqua Valley won its first varsity tournament in the program's history at Waubonsie Valley's Warrior Blast last weekend, Wildcats coach Kelly Simon was happy, but not content.

Simon wasn't thrilled with how her Wildcats looked in a semifinal victory against Rosary and, while they improved in the final, she thought her team could have played better in its title triumph against Downers Grove North.

"It was still not quite the rhythm and the pace that we wanted," Simon said afterward. "It was enough to win today, probably not on another day, so we know that we still have a lot of things to work on."

Scheduling up:ŒThere's no doubt Benet is one of the area's best teams. However, the Redwings have recently been swept on the road by the two best teams they've faced -- Joliet Catholic and Downers South.

In Monday's 25-19, 25-22 loss at Downers South, the host Mustangs looked like the battle-tested team that they've become by playing a top-notch schedule, while Benet looked like a team that could use more big-match experience.

Benet coach Brad Baker refused to blame his team's schedule for the loss but did say he'll be looking to make changes to it.

"There is no question next year we will be looking to re-do our schedule so that we are playing tougher (teams)," Baker said. "Our schedule gets increasingly tougher as the season goes along, but there's no doubt that (Downers South has) been in more big (matches)."

On the DL:ŒNaperville North starting right-side hitter Nrithya Sundararaman has been sidelined by an injury to her right thumb that required stitches.

Huskies coach Jennifer Urban expects Sundararaman to return soon.

"She'll be back next week," Urban said.

A good ride:ŒWheaton Warrenville South's 25-22, 25-19 victory against Naperville North on Tuesday ended the Huskies' winning streak at 16.

"Our goal is always to finish in the top of conference, but we try to look at the big picture and I think we made progress in this match even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted," Urban said. "I was pleased with some of the things that we were doing and with a few more adjustments we will make our team that much better. We've had a good ride the last two, three weeks.

"We've got a young group playing together, so they've had a lot of success and we will continue to improve. We certainly haven't peaked yet."

Building blocks: WW South's strong blocking versus Naperville North didn't happen by accident.

"We really worked on being active with our hands on the blocks and reading their hits and giving them a look and then adjusting into something else," WW South coach Bill Schreier said after the match. "I thought that we did a pretty good job of that tonight.

"I thought Monika (Stanciauskas) did a fabulous job for being a sophomore in a match of this level and magnitude. You never really know what you're going to get, and I thought what we got tonight was fabulous.

"I thought Katie Kane stepped up. The usual suspects were there. Mollie (Kolosky) had a great match. Annie (Luhrsen) had a great match. Becca (Zlabis) had a great match."

Beyond the wins:ŒA long list of accomplishments were read during the ceremony celebrating Immaculate Conception Jean Field winning her 700th match. Among them were the many academic and sportsmanship awards her program has received.

"Those are really important to me and I hope that the kids realize that they're important, as important as winning games," Field said. "It's not always the games that are important."