Reinke's return helps St. Francis past Rosary

Kelly Reinke is no longer on the casualty list.

St. Francis' girls volleyball team is virtually perfect with its top setter back in the fold.

Monday night in Aurora against Rosary, the last team to beat the Spartans in a league encounter, Reinke brilliantly conducted the Spartans' attack.

The senior had 27 assists to four primary hitters, and St. Francis eked out a close one over the Royals in the first game before routing its rivals in the nightcap.

With its straight-games 25-21 and 25-9 Suburban Christian Conference Blue victory, St. Francis improved to 14-1 overall and 3-0 in the league.

Rosary fell to 12-4, 2-2.

"(Reinke) did a fantastic job," said St. Francis' Notre Dame-bound outside hitter Meg Vonderhaar, who led both squad with 12 kills, including the final two in back-to-back fashion to close out the Royals. "She got us in a lot of good positions. We had a lot of good opportunities to score."

In the opening game, the teams' play was as fluid as the atmosphere at Rosary was raucous.

Amelia Wegman, who led Rosary with 8 kills, had an ace to cement a 3-point Rosary run that forged the first of seven ties.

But St. Francis eventually created enough separation behind its Reinke-orchestrated attack.

"I tore my (left) knee last year," Reinke said. "I'm just newly back. We try to spread it around as much as possible, so it's not all an outside game. Our passing was really good the second game."

St. Francis' Haley Gable broke the final first-game tie at 14-14 off a Reinke assist, and the Spartans' other primary hitters - Lauren Duncan and Grace Churney - augmented Vonderhaar.

Gable punctuated another Reinke assist to end the first game.

The second game was all St. Francis.

Gina Madonia, who led all players with 15 digs, stepped to the service line with St. Francis leading 7-4.

The senior libero proceeded to serve 10 consecutive points.

Reinke had assists on 4 of the first 5 points, and three Rosary violations around the net further doomed the Royals' chances to force a decisive third game.

"They served better than we did, and we struggled with serve-receive," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said.

The unanswered service burst by Madonia upped St. Francis' lead to 17-4; Rosary would claw back behind the inspired play of Wegman, but Vonderhaar, with feeds from Reinke and Churney, ended all suspense with consecutive kills.

"Our passing was pretty good tonight," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said.

Brinna Flag had 4 kills and 5 digs to complement Wegman.

"That's one of our problems," Kasper said of the Royals' offense. "We rely too much on Amelia Wegman. It's too predictable."