Glenbard East tops St. Francis
So far this spring the Glenbard East boys volleyball team isn’t taking its usual path through the season.
“Usually we peak and then dip somewhat after Downers Grove North (Invite in late April) and then we pick back up,” Rams coach Marci Maier said. “So far we haven’t peaked. We haven’t played our best volleyball yet, and this could be the start of something special at this point.”
Life was pretty special Wednesday as the Rams prevailed over St. Francis in the hosts’ regional final 24-26, 25-17, 25-20. It was Glenbard East’s first regional title since 2009 and sixth since 2005.
Next for the Rams is a Friday IMSA sectional semifinal against top seed Wheaton Warrenville South. The match begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Aurora school.
The Tigers won the York regional title by stopping Lyons Twp. 25-14, 25-17.
“It would be a great experience (playing Wheaton Warrenville South). We’re a young team, but we’re reaching our peak from here on out,” East junior Tim Shenkin, who led his team with 12 kills, said immediately after the match. “Anything can happen on a given night.”
St. Francis looked strong for many portions of the match, especially in Game 1. But Glenbard East (29-8) simply looked flawless during some scoring runs over the three games and the Spartans (23-12) didn’t have answers to them.
The final game was a prime example. The Spartans pulled to within 19-18 on a Matt Krese kill. Glenbard East scored right after with St. Francis serving. That sideout started the serving of the Rams’ Tyler Byrne.
A Spartans hitting error followed by a block from Joe Farrell and a kill by senior Kevin Farrell helped push the Rams to a 23-19 lead and they cruised from there.
In Game 2 St. Francis, with the help of a Rams hitting error, pulled to within 9-7 despite two serving aces by Glenbard East. The Rams maintained a 4-6-point lead until Kevin Farrell took over serving. With the help of Glenbard East’s fifth serving ace of the match, a double hit by the Spartans and a kill by Matt Ploke, Glenbard East went ahead 23-15 and wasn’t threatened after that.
“Our serving was able to get them out of their system,” Farrell said.
Also having a big day for Glenbard East was was senior Jeremy Curtiss. He finished with 11 kills.
St. Francis coach Mike Lynch praised his team afterward for its effort in the match and for the season overall.
“Volleyball is all about momentum and avoiding streaks and we got stuck in a couple (of Glenbard East’s),” he said. “Our kids played their hearts out. No one expected anything of us. We had graduated six of seven starters last year from a team that was ranked ninth nationally at one time.
“We were very young this year. We started a freshman, sophomore and two juniors.”
St. Francis was led by senior Jack Mordell, the only returning starter from last season, who finished with 15 kills, 14 assists and 5 digs.
“Two or three weeks ago we were struggling, but we came back. Unfortunately, the result today doesn’t show that as well as it could,” he said.