Despite struggles, St. Francis beats Elk Grove in semifinals
Good teams know how to win, even when they're not at their best.
St. Francis was outplayed for most of the match by Elk Grove on Friday, but survived with a three-game 26-24, 16-25, 25-21 victory in the St. Francis boys volleyball regional semifinals.
The win sets up a Wheaton showdown with Wheaton Warrenville South in the regional final Tuesday.
"We were just not meshing the way we usually do," said Joey Murnane, who led Spartans (35-3) with 15 kills, including 8 in Game 3. "We were on the defensive the whole night. Elk Grove played awesome and might have gotten into our heads a little. But we picked everything up at a crucial time. We didn't want this to be our last game."
The Grenadiers (23-9), who were led by Bryan Skwirut with a season-high 20 kills, dominated right up until the second half of the third game.
With St. Francis ahead 15-14 but still looking a little shaky, the teams went on a long rally that featured some unbelievable digs. Murnane finished it with a kill to make it 16-14, and that seemed to shift the momentum to the Spartans.
"I always knew we were going to win," said St. Francis libero Jay Hayes, who had 18 digs. "But when we kept getting the ball up on that point and Joey finished with a kill. That changed everything."
The Spartans were fortunate to be playing that third game because they trailed through most of Game 1. The Grenadiers prevented them from putting together any kind of an offensive run.
It took a pair of kills by Jeff Dixon to pull out the game. He tied it at 24 and put away a kill on game point for the 26-24 win.
Elk Grove dominated Game 2.
"We were pressing in all three games," said St. Francis coach Mike Lynch. "But that second game was not typical of us. Elk Grove is a scrappy team, they run a quick offense and they were getting balls up that are usually kills."
Lynch praised his team for overcoming adversity to come away with the victory.
"Our guys came up big at the end," Lynch said. "Our passing, our blocking and our serve-receive got much stronger in the third game. Murnane came through with some very timely kills."
Setter Mike Segneri had 32 assists and 13 service points on the night and Murnane added 10 digs. Bob Vonderhaar had 8 kills for the Spartans.
"We should have won Game 1," said Elk Grove coach Dan Windholz. "St. Francis looked comfortable that they were going to come back even when they were down. And then in the third game we started playing defensively. It just didn't work out at the end. I'm proud that our team made a good showing and that they left everything on the court."