St. Francis rebounds to win silver bracket
The Downers Grove South girls volleyball team is like a rising stock.
The Mustangs continued their steady climb in the Nike Challenge, outpacing their No. 8 seed with a fifth-place finish -- their second-best showing in the prestigious 24-team tournament hosted by Mother McAuley in Chicago.
"Don't buy the NASDAQ, buy Mustang stock," Downers South coach Colleen Reagan joked after her club went 4-1 in the tourney. "Things are just kind of coming together and the group is really taking off."
The Mustangs (19-5) started Saturday by suffering their only setback -- a 25-15, 25-13 quarterfinal loss to top-seeded eventual champion Assumption from Louisville, Ky.
They rebounded by defeating Marist 25-12, 18-25, 25-16 behind 7 kills from Christine Bowe and 6 apiece from Mo Ostermeyer and Kelsey Safranek. Then they swept Rockton Hononegah 25-22, 25-14 powered by Bowe's 9 kills and 3 aces.
"Losing to Assumption was of course difficult, but we're taking it as a learning experience," said Bowe, who made the six-player all-tourney team. "Coming out fifth in the Nike Challenge is awesome."
Assumption rolled past McAuley 25-11, 25-15 in the title match; Louisville's Sacred Heart outlasted Joliet Catholic 16-25, 25-19, 25-17 for third place.
St. Francis (23-2) also went 4-1, but a 19-25, 25-20, 25-23 pool loss to Marist on Friday sent the fourth-seeded Spartans to the silver bracket, which they wound up winning.
After beating Sandburg 15-25, 25-17, 25-13 and Downers North 25-19, 25-19, they turned back Lone Peak of Highland, Utah, 25-19, 23-25, 25-17 in the ninth-place match led by Kelsey Robinson's 12 kills, Megan Barnicle's 10 kills and Michelle Kocher's 37 assists.
"When you have that disappointment on Friday night I think it shows a lot about a team when it comes back," said St. Francis coach Peg Kopec, who saw some positives from her players. "I think they've improved on their excitement level. We have very quiet personalities on this team. They're learning what it takes to work together as a team."
Downers North (17-7) surpassed its 16th seed by coming in 11th. Following a 25-20, 22-25, 25-22 win versus Corona del Mar of Newport Beach, Calif., and its loss to St. Francis, the Trojans topped Crystal Lake South 19-25, 25-17, 25-19 on Erica Behm's 26 assists and 13 digs, Terese Byrne's 11 kills and 3 aces, and Britta Baarstad's 8 kills.
"Overall I think we played well," Trojans coach Laura Johnwick said. "Unfortunately against two of the very strong teams, Assumption and Wheaton St. Francis, we didn't play as competitively as I would've liked. We did some nice things, but we were inconsistent."