Spartans get a victory to dye for

Peg Kopec gave her hair a flip and joked "I'm getting it dyed tomorrow."

Her young St. Francis Spartans may give the veteran coach a few gray hairs. The kids may have grown up a little Monday, too.

St. Francis, trailing for much of the match against Suburban Catholic Conference rival Rosary, pulled out a 25-27, 25-22, 25-22 win in another memorable meeting between the two schools at Spyglass Center in Wheaton.

Rosary won two regular-season matches last year before St. Francis won a three-gamer in the sectional final.

The Spartans (13-2, 4-0) never led by more than 2 points in either the second or third games until game point in both. They scored the last 6 points of the match, capped by Kelsey Robinson's 21st kill of the night.

"I'm just really proud of my girls. They played with a lot of heart," said Kopec, who starts four juniors and two sophomores. "We're young. That's hard to do when you're young."

Rosary (6-4, 2-2) led 22-19 in Game 3, but a pair of Royals hitting errors and Robinson's tip kill over a double block tied it. Katie Parisi served an ace for the lead and Robinson reached up for a kill in the middle of the front row to set up match point.

"We were in control that whole match and we just gave it away," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said.

Rosary won Game 1 as a Lindsey Weber kill and ace snapped a 25-25 tie. The second game went back and forth, with the teams combining for 16 ties. Rosary's final lead was at 20-19, but a Robinson kill tied it and a long Rosary hit gave St. Francis back the lead. Kristen Kelsay's flip and kills by Robinson and Meg Vonderhaar led to game point.

"We definitely waited to score our points early, waited to make our kills and sat back," Robinson said. "In the second game we stepped up and started making our own points. I think that's what made the difference."

Kelsay had 28 assists, Kelsey Vorgert added 11 digs and Vonderhaar, one of two St. Francis sophomore starters, 9 kills.

"When you have a young team there's a lot of different things that can help them," Kopec said. "I think being in a match like this is one of those things."

Kelly Hogan had 18 kills and Wagner 12 for Rosary. Kasper would have liked to see both finish off the match as strong as they started it. Rosary had two critical hitting errors and a miscommunication on a pass that led to St. Francis re-taking a late lead.

"When it came down to crunch time, it was our seniors that did not step up. Those are the kids we're relying on," Kasper said. "Against a good team, too many of our own errors contributed to a match tonight that in my opinion shouldn't have went three games."