Spartans, Warriors win warmup matches

St. Francis and Wheaton Academy passed each other at the Spyglass Center in Wheaton, knowing their matches Thursday night were just a warmup for Saturday's main event.

Both the Spartans and Warriors easily beat overmatched Chicago teams to advance to the Class 3A St. Francis regional final.

St. Francis, the defending Class 3A runner-up, barely worked up a sweat while defeating Clark 25-2, 25-5. The Spartans used a different starting lineup in Game 2 than in the first game and still routed Clark, which had trouble just returning the Spartans' serves. Kelsey Robinson had 5 kills, Mo Slavin added 5 aces, and Kristen Kelsay notched 14 service points and 6 assists.

Wheaton Academy had a slightly more difficult time defeating Kennedy 25-18, 25-21, though the Warriors also used many of their reserve players.

"It's a big stage, even though it's not that tight of a game," D.A. Nichols said of his many substitutions in the regional semifinal.

Wheaton Academy started Game 1 with a 7-0 run, then finished with the last 6 points in a row.

"We started out focused and played our speed, and then it just kind of slowed down," Nichols said.

Part of the problem was a mix of aces with bad serves.

"When we start playing St. Francis and all these better teams, we have to serve tough," Nichols said. "We know how offensively potent they are, and so we have to make them work a little harder from the get-go."

The Warriors can worry about that Saturday.