St. Francis gets past BC in 3
St. Francis didn't look like St. Francis, for one game at least. After a slow start, the powerful Spartans downed Burlington Central, 20-25, 25-15, 25-13, in nonconference girls volleyball action between the No. 2 and No. 7 ranked teams in the Daily Herald Top 20.
The host Rockets never trailed in Game 1, but the Spartans roared back behind outside hitter Kelsey Robinson, who finished with 17 kills.
Stephanie Holthus led the Rockets with 15 kills. Taylor Scully added 9 kills and 6 digs. Audry Djukic had 4 kills and Samantha Bohne had 7 digs for Central. Setter Kaitlyn O'Reilly recorded 29 assists.
"We're a very young team, and just to be in the same gym and compete with them, we're very proud of that," said Central coach Marv Leavitt. "We're playing five sophomores right now and it's going to take awhile for them to know their roles and so forth, but I was extremely pleased with the effort of the team."
The Spartans, meanwhile, showed some first-game jitters before getting untracked in Game 2.
"I thought it was good for us to come back and show some determination," said St. Francis coach Peg Kopec, the all-time wins leader in Illinois volleyball coaching history who won her 994th career match.
"We have a big tournament this weekend, so hopefully this will get us ready a little bit."
Kristen Kelsay added 7 kills to go with 24 assists, and Cassie Rio had 6 for the Spartans. Gina Madonia had 4 aces and 11 digs.
The Rockets (1-1) led 24-16 in Game 1 before St. Francis reeled off 4 straight points to make things interesting. A kill by Holthus ended that game, but the Spartans carried the momentum into the second game. Behind aces from Madonia and Katie Parisi and a couple of kills by Robinson, the Spartans raced out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back.
Game 3 was much the same, with Kelsay serving 5 straight points to give the Spartans a 10-2 lead. Trailing 21-7, the Rockets rallied briefly behind 2 solid kills by Holthus to get within 22-11, but they could get no closer. Robinson's ace finished off the game in emphatic fashion.