St. Francis finds Mordell, gets victory
St. Francis coach Mike Lynch thought his Spartans didn't get the ball to premier outside hitter Joe Mordell enough at last Saturday's Springfest tournament.
On Wednesday the Spartans corrected that little oversight and, with Mordell leading the way with 11 kills and 4 blocks, they topped host Benet 27-25, 25-21.
It was the second time within a week that the more experienced Spartans (8-1) defeated the Redwings (9-8).
St. Francis also topped Benet in pool play at the tournament last Saturday at Glenbard East 25-16, 25-21.
"Our game plan tonight was to get the ball to Joe," said St. Francis coach Mike Lynch. "And he stepped up and had a nice match for us."
"We know when someone's on you have to keep giving it to him," said St. Francis setter Mark Roberts. "Joe was on fire, so I kept giving it to him."
The Spartans seemed to be cruising to an easy victory in both games, but the tenacious Redwings kept fighting back.
In Game 1 the Spartans (8-1) led 18-11 when the Redwings (9-8) took advantage of unforced errors and finally tied it at 24 and then at 25.
But the Spartans closed it out 27-25 on a kill by the Spartans Dan McGuire followed by a Benet violation.
In the second game the Spartans jumped out to a 9-0 lead only to give up six points to the Redwings on the next service rotation.
St. Francis was again leading 18-11, when the Redwings made their second comeback of the game and closed the gap to 21-20, only to lose 25-21.
"We started off really slow and dug ourselves a deep hole," said Benet setter Matt Krzywosz. "Our intensity was up and down in both games. We just have to find a way to finish out a game."
"We broke down a little on defense when they made their comebacks," Mordell said. "But we hit well tonight. We try to spread it around on offense and get everyone involved. We've been working on hitting out of the back row all week, and it worked tonight."
Dan McGuire and Joe Pfeiffer were perfect complements to Mordell with 6 kills apiece.
"We know that even when we're up 9-0 that volleyball is a game of momentum," Lynch said. "And we knew Benet was capable of coming back because they're a fine team. But we also knew we had the ability to work through it and our kids did."
Roberts had 25 assists, 2 kills and 2 aces for the Spartans, while Steve Howe had 3 blocks and Thomas Culligan led in digs with 11.
"I didn't like that we started both games in a hole," said Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren. "But I feel good that we had the intensity and heart to come back in both games."
She thought the difference in the match was the Spartans' strong passing allowed them to run a quick and varied offense.
Bobby Wehrli led Benet with 9 kills and 4 digs, and Luke Ladowski finished with 8 kills and 4 digs. Joe Berg came up with 12 digs and Dan Nesnidal had 7 blocks.
Krzywosz had 22 assists and 6 digs.