Madonia comes through in clutch for St. Francis

Like all the St. Francis players, senior libero Gina Madonia recognized her grandpa Martin on "Grandparents Night" with a special letter.

"I thanked him for always being there for me," Madonia said, "and for being my V.I.P., my very important person."

Madonia sure was there for the Spartans when it mattered most.

Tied 20-all in the third game, Madonia served 4 straight aces - and served out the match - as No. 3 St. Francis fought off Marian Central 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 on Wednesday at Spyglass Center.

"I serve it to a zone as best I can," Madonia said, "and I just got in a rhythm. I think one error got us down a little bit, but we really pulled it together and we fought back together as a team. We all had the desire and fight to win."

St. Francis (12-1, 2-0 Suburban Christian Blue), which had let a 13-9 Game 2 lead get away, blew an 11-3 advantage in the third game. Marian Central (9-1, 3-1) came all the way back to take an 18-17 lead on a Meredith Patterson kill and led 19-17 after a St. Francis hitting error.

But a Meg Vonderhaar ace knotted the score at 19-19, and after an Emma Hussey kill for Marian Central, Grace Churney gave St. Francis back the serve with a kill.

That set up Madonia's heroics from the service line.

"Gina is a very good server," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "Thanks be to God for the timing of those serves. Marian Central is good. They played very scrappy defense. I don't know if our girls were frustrated, but I was."

Not even a Marian Central timeout could interrupt Madonia's barrage of 4 aces. Marian Central committed a hitting error on match point.

A brief mental hiccup cost the Hurricanes from completing a scrappy comeback.

"We fought back, and I love the girls for that," Marian Central coach Laura Watling said, "but at that point it's hard. If we eliminate our unforced errors we're right there."

Hussey had 15 kills, Abby Gilleland 29 assists and Dena Ott 21 digs for Marian Central.

"This is a team that I believe in 100 percent when we're out there. I never give up hope in them ever," Watling said. "It's hard to fight back against a team like St. Francis in their own gym when we're down 8 points, but we did. I'm happy with the girls for staying with it and fighting."

Vonderhaar had 13 kills and Churney 12 for St. Francis, which was coming off its first loss of the season, to 4A power Moline at the Crossroads Classic. Madonia had 12 digs and Kelly Reinke 20 assists.

The Spartans play at Mother McAuley tonight.

"At one point I think we celebrated a little early," Kopec said, "and you can't count (Marian Central) out ever."