St. Francis returning to state
St. Francis girls volleyball coach Peg Kopec faces a task that needs to be completed in the upcoming week, and she certainly doesn’t mind.
“I have to fully brief them on what it’s like at state. They haven’t been there,” she said after the Spartans finished off Metamora in 35 minutes, 25-12 and 25-8, Saturday afternoon to win the Class 3A Lincoln-Way West supersectional in New Lenox.
It’s been a week that St. Francis won’t soon forget. Just 48 hours earlier, the Spartans exacted revenge on Joliet Catholic, winning a sectional title on the Angels’ home court and ending a streak of three seasons in which Joliet Catholic had sent St. Francis home early from the postseason.
And on Saturday the Spartans (34-6) took control of each game against the Redbirds (35-4) early and never looked back as they punched their ticket for their first state appearance since 2007, when they earned second place in 3A.
“We haven’t been downstate since I was in eighth grade,” said senior Daiva Wise, who finished with 6 kills. “This is a big deal. There are a lot of teams to get through.”
And the next challenge awaiting St. Francis comes Friday at Redbird Arena in Normal when it will take on defending state champ Breese Mater Dei. The Knights defeated Normal University 25-17, 25-18 also Saturday in the Jerseyville supersectional.
The Redbirds never got a chance to set the foundation for any momentum. The crowd in the Lincoln-Way West gym had barely settled in for Game 1 when Wise’s kill made it 5-0, and Metamora called a timeout to try and regroup.
St. Francis built up a 16-5 advantage and the Redbirds enjoyed a scoring spurt, but not because of what they did. Four straight hitting errors by St. Francis pulled Metamora to within 16-9. The Spartans then scored nine of the next 12 points to seal the win.
Game 2 saw St. Francis jump out a 15-3 lead and never look back. Haley Gable led the Spartans in kills for the match with 8. Carly Warner had 12 assists.
“We wanted to gather momentum at the beginning and keep the flow at our pace,” Wise said.
The Spartans and their fans took their time leaving the court after the victory and for good reason as St. Francis savored finally accomplishing two huge goals — getting past Joliet Catholic and getting back to state. Senior team members said that’s been on their minds all season.
“We’ve worked so incredibly hard for this week. People underestimated us at the beginning and we’ve worked hard to prove them wrong,” Taylor Reckards said.
“The last three years has been the biggest motivating factor. Our attiude this season has been we’re not going to lose. We’re going to accomplish it,” Maddie Defino said.
Although heading to state will be a new experience for this season’s edition of the Spartans, the school carries a long tradition of success. The Spartans have won four state titles and placed second twice since 2000. Kopec has led St. Francis to eight state championships overall.
“This team was not ranked very high at the start. They’ve grown as a team and they’ve grown as people too,” Kopec said.