St. Francis lives up to its own expectations

St. Francis coach Mike Lynch had a feeling he might have a pretty good team this season. He just wanted his Spartans to prove it.

They did that Wednesday night.

St. Francis swept a strong Downers Grove North team 25-18, 25-22 in Wheaton, showing its coach his faith was not misplaced.

"It was a great measuring stick to see where we are," Lynch said.

It's early, but these Spartans (3-0) have high hopes.

"It tells us that we could possibly be one of the best teams St. Francis has had in a while," senior middle hitter Steve Howe said. "The chemistry is awesome. All the guys, they work as hard as I've ever seen in practice the past few years, and everyone wants it."

"We're a team that doesn't want to be denied," Lynch added of his self-motivated group. "We don't want to have any regrets. ... The whole team has bought into that idea, which is really nice. I've never had anything I could be mad at them about."

The Spartans were excited to get Wednesday's match started.

"Everyone played really well because we were really pumped before this game," Howe said. "We were in (the locker room) going nuts. Everyone was super-excited. We came out just intense. The second game we were a little tired just because we'd been waiting so long. (Lynch) has been hyping up this game just because it was our first really hard game this season, not to diminish our first two opponents. But it's our first true test to see where we are."

The Spartans led throughout Game 1, taking their biggest lead at the end. A Dan McGuire kill after a good dig by Jack Mordell clinched the game for St. Francis.

Game 2 was even closer, with Downers North (2-2) taking a lead midway through. But the Trojans couldn't get more than 2 points distance from the Spartans.

"We had very few unforced errors," Lynch said. "We knew they were struggling, and we were able to fight back and get that next point. You don't want to let a team have any runs and get momentum. Those guys had some big kills up front."

Many of the Trojans' problems were self-inflicted, especially on the serve, coach Mark Wasik said.

"I think they got caught up with the emotion of the situation," Wasik said. "We're still relatively young. They're physically very capable, but mentally and emotionally a little immature still.

"They just want it so bad. They're able to serve one in and then they're one and done. Serving is 95 percent mental. There's not a huge physical component to putting the ball inbounds."

The Spartans took the lead for good at 23-22, their first since 10-9, then won the next two points for the victory, which Howe clinched with a kill.

"Every year we play Downers Grove North; it's always a tight match," said Lynch, who takes his team to Glenbard East's Springfest tournament Saturday. "These guys all know each other from club and stuff like that. The kids can be happy with how we played. I said don't be satisfied yet, because we'll be playing a lot better soon."