Another tough weekend on tap for St. Francis

If you're looking for a coach to handicap the Class 4A playoffs, Peg Kopec would be a good place to start.

This past weekend in their first trip to the Rich East Tournament Kopec's St. Francis Spartans played Lyons Township and Mother McAuley - their second meeting with the Mighty Macs. The two teams have split two matches. Earlier in the year St. Francis lost to downstate power Moline.

And this weekend at the Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley St. Francis will be in the 24-team field with defending 4A champion Cary-Grove as well as Marist and McAuley. St. Francis is in a pool with Venice (Fl.) and Downers Grove South.

"It will be another tough, tough weekend," Kopec said.

Berkeley Prep (14-1), the defending Florida Class 3A champion from Tampa, is the top seed. Berkeley was ranked No. 1 in the nation last week by ESPNRise.

Four of the top 10 teams in the recent PrepVolleyball.com national rankings are in the field, including No. 2 Cary-Grove, No. 5 Assumption (Ky.), who is the three-time Asics defending champion, No. 6 Waukesha (Wisc.) Catholic Memorial and No. 9 Berkeley (Fla.) Prep.

The championship match is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"It's a phenomenal tournament," Kopec said, "and it always has been. One thing about it is to make sure your kids don't get mentally beat up. These are great teams there. You have to keep your wits about you and look at the big picture."

National recognition: Illinois schools, DuPage County in particular, continue to be well-represented in the latest PrepVolleyball.com rankings released Sept. 23. York (22-3) is ranked No. 54 and St. Francis No. 91 with Benet and West Chicago "on the bubble." Among Illinois teams Cary-Grove, who currently holds a 33-match winning streak, has ascended to No. 2 in the country behind St. James from Lenexa, Kansas. Lyons Township checks in at No. 10, Breese Mater Dei No. 11, Marist No. 35, Moline No. 66, Quincy No. 68 and Edwardsville No. 95.

DVC showdown in West Chicago: Unbeaten and third-ranked West Chicago could gain a big leg up in the DuPage Valley Conference race tonight. The Wildcats (17-0, 6-0) host defending DVC champ Naperville North (10-7, 5-1). The Huskies, whose only conference loss came to Naperville Central, are the only DVC team besides West Chicago with less than two in-league losses.

"They're going to come in here and want to beat us on our home court," said West Chicago coach Kris Hasty, seeking her first DVC title in 17 years as Wildcats coach. "We have to be focused in practice and ready to play. Naperville North is a great team and we have to rise to the occasion and show everybody and ourselves that we are a good team."

Naperville North swept both its matches with West Chicago last season, which ultimately cost the Wildcats a share of the DVC crown. The Wildcats were still the young up-and-comer. This year, though, no DVC team is more seasoned than West Chicago. That showed last Thursday in a two-game win over Naperville Central, who also won both its matches with West Chicago in 2009.

"We got down 6-0 in Game 2 and kept our cool and composure," Hasty said. "I think experience plays into that a lot. We haven't had a lot of experience in the past. This year we do. It's refreshing to see that confidence in huge matches."

Hasty has continued to hammer home the importance of blocking in practice. Few teams possess a better set of middles than West Chicago's Emily Paschke and Kathy Fletcher.

"Defense wins championships, closing the block and communicating," Hasty said. "We got the height but we can't just put our arms up there. We got to make good decisions. And passing is the name of the game. So far we've passed fairly well. When we don't pass well is when we get into trouble."

Downers North back at full strength: Downers Grove North received a big boost Monday. Junior Jessie Tulacka, out the last 10 days with a concussion, was cleared to return. Tulacka collided heads with teammate Taylor Kasal during a match with Waubonsie Valley Sept. 16 at the Wheaton Classic. Tulacka remained in the match but the next day the doctor advised she take a week off.

"We weren't aware of the severity or that it happened," Trojans coach Mark Wasik said. "Throughout the match she became more disoriented. By the end of the third game she didn't know where she should be for rotation."

Tulacka's absence left a huge void for the Trojans. The versatile Tulacka sets and hits for Downers Grove North. At first Wasik switched to a 5-1 with Kasal setting, but ended up running a 6-2 with Katie Canning setting. Gina Gammonley had to become the first outside with Marissa Koszewski the No. 2.

Without Tulacka Downers Grove North, a 27-win team last season, went 3-7 and sits at 8-10 heading into tonight's match at York.

"We haven't had as aggressive an attack without Jessie," Wasik said. "Those two (Tulacka and Kasal) can run a 6-2 and can both hit. You wouldn't think one player would make that much of a difference. But when it's a D1 player, she's an impactful player."

It's a good time for Tulacka to return, too. The Trojans have a rugged schedule the next week with York tonight, the Asics Challenge this weekend and then a home match with Lyons Township next Tuesday.

Wasik is hopeful that the Trojans' less-than-stellar record doesn't cause their sectional seeding to slide too far in voting next week.

"There have been a number of matches where you wonder where we'd be with her," Wasik said. "In the long run it should definitely make us stronger."

Waubonsie searching for marquee win: No. 15 Waubonsie Valley (15-8) avenged an earlier loss to Batavia with a dominant 25-12, 25-16 win over the No. 10 Bulldogs at the Warrior Blast over the weekend and followed that up with a two-game win over No. 19 Neuqua Valley for third place.

They were perhaps the Warriors' best wins of the year. Waubonsie hasn't had trouble dispatching of teams equal or below it on the volleyball food chain.

But with two losses to No. 5 York and three to No. 7 Benet, the Warriors are perhaps still searching for a breakthrough win against an elite program.

"We don't have a tradition yet at our school, to be one of the top teams," Waubonsie coach Kristen Stuart said, "and the only way to do it is to build one now. We're starting to see more of that from them, more confidence. We're getting there.

"I told the girls 'I don't care how many times we lose to Benet as long as we beat them in sectionals.'"