St. Francis beats Glenbard West for Benet title
After losing Game 1 to Glenbard West in the finals of the Benet Invitational on Saturday, St. Francis coach Mike Lynch knew the key to the match would be for the Spartans to go to their middle hitters.
The Spartans (22-7) got their middle attack going, especially through Ryan Hanrahan, and wound up with their second straight Benet Invitational championship with a 14-25, 25-21, 26-24 win for the third win this year over neighbor and rival Glenbard West.
“We know nobody can stop Ryan when he’s on,” Lynch said. “And today he was on.”
“After that first game we were a lot stronger,” Hanrahan said. “I felt great and I was ready to go. Our passes were there and our sets were there.”
Hanrahan finished the match with 8 kills and 5 blocks and repeatedly hit key balls when it looked as though the Hilltoppers (18-5) were going to change the momentum and beat the Spartans for the first time.
“We knew we could run the middle with Jack Mordell setting a quicker ball,” Lynch said. “It’s tough to beat a team three times. They’re a good team and this is a real rivalry. A lot of the kids go to grade school together. We face them one more time this year.”
Mordell, who is playing setter for the first time this year, was also outstanding for the Spartans and he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He had 8 kills, a block, 16 assists and 2 aces in the finals. St. Francis libero Nick Konchel, who had 5 digs against Glenbard West, also made the all-tournament team.
“We came out flat in that first game,” Mordell said. “Once our passes started falling, I was able to run the middles smoothly and we were connecting on all our sets. We always have to bring our best game to beat Glenbard West. This is a great win, but we havn’t peaked yet. We’re excited for the rest of the year.”
Glenbard West’s Matt Lepold and Kevin McGinnis were also named to the all-tournament team.
Lepold had 10 kills and 10 blocks and McGinnis had 10 digs in the finals.
Hilltoppers coach Christine Giunta thinks her team has to get over a psychological barrier in order to beat St. Francis.
“All of our losses to them have been in three games, and the final game margin has always been by two points,” Giunta said. “We’ve proved we can play with them, but I think it’s in our heads that it’s St. Francis and we have to get over that. We just have to defend a little better and get a lot out of out-of-system balls. That’s the best way to score against them.
“Give St. Francis credit, they’re a fine team with great coaching. But I’m proud of our kids. This is the first time we’ve ever played in the finals of a tournament.”
In the third-place match Neuqua Valley topped Benet 25-20, 25-21.
Jon Storm had 14 kills to lead the Wildcats. Alex Blackwell dealt 21 assists and Zach Gilligan had 14 digs.
“Our team was pretty down after the tough loss to Glenbard West in the semifinals,” Blackwell said. “We got some confidence back in the third-place game.”
Benet was led by Bobby Wehrli with 5 kills and 2 blocks and Sawyer Yeazel with 6 digs and 3 kills.