WW South stops St. Francis in third game
Wheaton Warrenville South's boys volleyball team breaks each game down into five-point increments.
That worked out perfectly Tuesday in Game 3 of the Tigers' Glenbard East sectional championship battle against St. Francis with the score tied at 20.
The Tigers beat the Spartans to 25, winning 25-23 after the first two games ended 23-25, 25-15 to win their eighth straight sectional title and the right to move to the state quarterfinals on Friday with the opportunity to make it four straight state championships in a row.
"We focus on the next five points no matter what, and try to win a five-point game," libero Dave Priest said. "That helps us in pressure situations. And that won it for us at the end tonight."
"When we were ahead 20-19, we knew all we had to do is maintain the lead and force St. Francis to keep coming back," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier. "It was a pretty emotional match, and it took a lot of energy for them to come back from a five-point deficit. We needed to go back and forth with them to give ourselves the opportunity we needed, and that's what we got."
Schreier said the Spartans (36-3) ran "one of the fastest offenses we've seen all year."
"We knew we had to keep them out of system," Schreier said. "Their setter (Mark Roberts) does a great job of putting the ball where the hitters can do some damage. We saw that in Game 1. In Game 2 we made adjustments, played with intensity and were able to get the ball back up. That changed the whole complexion of the match."
Schreier said that Priest, a setter by nature who's playing libero for the first time this year, was outstanding in Game 3.
"It was the best defense Priest played all year," Schreier said. "He was in rhythm getting balls back up. His coverage was spectacular. It was perfect timing for him to play the match he did."
Priest led the Tigers (33-6) with 12 digs. Setter Eric Wilkins had 36 assists and Eric Luhrsen had a big match with15 kills and 9 digs. Middle hitter Matt Nussbaum was also outstanding with 9 kills, as was Matt Wilkins who did damage all around with 6 kills, 4 blocks and 7 digs.
St. Francis in its trademark balanced offense was led by Jack Mordell with 9 kills, while Joe Mordell and Dan McGuire had 8 each and Steve Howe added 6. Thomas Culligan had a match-high 21 digs, the Mordells each had 10 digs and Roberts had 31 assists, 5 kills and 7 digs.
"We're known this year for having pushes at the end of the match," said St. Francis coach Mike Lynch. "We were down 20-15 and we got that push at the end to tie the score, but it just wasn't meant to be at the end."
During that five-point run McGuire had a pair of kills and Howe contributed 2 kills and a block.
Lynch admitted the Spartans played a little tentatively in Game 2, when they could have closed the Tigers down.
"Everyone has stepped up big for us all year," he said. "That letdown in Game 2 is something that hasn't happened to us."