WWS keep their cool, come back to stop St. Francis

When your team has played the kind of boys volleyball schedule WW South has played and has been to the Elite Eight five years running, a 4-point mid-Game 3 deficit isn't that big a deal.

Not even against a strong St. Francis team on its home court before a loud, packed gym in Wheaton.

The defending state champion Tigers just shook off their uncharacteristic mistakes to come back for a 25-23, 18-25, 25-20 St. Francis sectional final victory and gain their sixth straight state appearance.

"We have a tradition of being very victorious in Game 3, especially since I've been on the team," junior outside hitter Neill Nystrom said. "Last year Game 3 was our game. So I think we decided if we were going to put the forth the effort, we were not going to lose two in a row."

The Tigers (32-7) will meet Brother Rice at 2 p.m. Friday in the state quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates High School.

St. Francis (35-4) led 15-11 in Game 3 when WW South called a timeout, and the Tigers had cut the lead to 18-17 by the time senior Eric Hardek stepped up to serve. His ace tied the game, then he served the next 3 points to give the Tigers a lead as the game neared its conclusion.

"The kids played well, it's just that the last 7 or 8 points of that third game, a couple of things just didn't work as well as they have been working this year," St. Francis coach Mike Lynch said. "That's high school sports."

Brian Williams served the final 2 points, with Nystrom pounding a kill for match point.

"We got down big in Game 3, but we were able to maintain our composure and chip away at their lead, which is what we talked about during the timeout," Tigers coach Bill Schreier said. "The guys played well. They kept their heads about them, and in the end they made the plays down the stretch. It was great to see. It's a tribute to them."

It was especially gratifying considering the number of mistakes the Tigers made early.

"We missed a lot of serves," Schreier said. "It was like one step forward, two steps back with some of that stuff. But some miscommunication and things like that are going to happen in this atmosphere. This is comparable to what you're going to see in the state finals. …

"I don't know how many times we had two people go up on an overpass. You know, come on. I know everybody wants to make that big swing, but let's just get one person up."

St. Francis made few mistakes and took advantage of the ones the Tigers made.

"Everything that I thought they would be," Schreier said of the Spartans. "Excellent ball control, didn't make a lot of errors. From the service line I don't think they had any. So they're not going to give up any points from that. We needed to create our own opportunities."

They did, just when they had to.

Nystrom finished with 12 kills and 3 blocks for the Tigers, and Hardek had 10 kills, 8 digs and 2 aces. Joe Kelly led the team with 26 assists and 5 kills.

For St. Francis, Jeff Dixon, Joey Murnane and Jake Rio each had 9 kills, and Mike Segneri tallied 33 assists. Jay Hayes added 11 digs.