Rebuilding St. Francis off to strong start

On Monday the St. Francis boys volleyball team learned a lesson. On Wednesday the Spartans applied that lesson to the court.

“We just wanted to make sure we came out with a lot of energy. Our last match Monday we came out pretty flat,” Spartans senior Jack Mordell said. “We just wanted to make sure we had a lot of emotion. We can control that, and we used that.”

The Spartans controlled Wednesday’s match, defeating Montini 25-14, 25-13 in Wheaton to run their record to 4-0. They seem to be picking up where they left off last year, a record-setting season that ended 36-3 with a sectional final loss to eventual state runner-up Wheaton Warrenville South.

“This year the first couple of games have been a learning experience,” said Mordell, the lone returning starter. “Everything’s going to come together, and I just expect us to keep coming up. We have a lot of potential this year.”

“It’s been a learning process,” added coach Mike Lynch, “but it’s a great group of athletes to rebuild with. We don’t expect them to have a dropoff this year. We think we’re still a top-caliber team. We’re just getting them to believe in themselves, how good they can be.”

The new Spartans to the lineup are trying to raise their level of play to match their predecessors’.

“I’m trying to step it up,” Spartans senior libero Nick Konchel said. “The team has a lot of new players, trying to get them used to the varsity level so they can play big in big games.”

While St. Francis works to rebuild, Montini (3-7) is trying to build its program. Only two players have club experience, and the team lacks height, but the Broncos didn’t fall meekly to the Spartans.

“We’re going from the basics up, I guess you could say,” Broncos first-year coach Steve Dowjotas said. “Right now they haven’t been taught where they need to be and then how to have that composure through an entire match. We’re still getting there.”

Mordell led the Spartans with 14 assists, 6 kills, 2 blocks and 6 digs. Junior Brendan Roberts added 6 kills, Konchell had 4 digs and 4 service points, Ryan Hanrahan had 3 kills and 2 blocks, and John Portone had 3 kills.

Justin Dzik led Montini with 2 kills, while Andrew Vath, Brendan Kitz and Ryan Crackel added a kill apiece.