St. Francis throws a Hawaiian punch beating rival Rosary

On Hawaiian night at Spyglass Center, St. Francis packed a powerful punch.

The Spartans smashed 18 Game 1 kills en route to a 25-9, 25-19 win over Suburban Christian Conference rival Rosary on Wednesday night in Wheaton.

"That was one of our goals," said Spartans junior Meg Vonderhaar, "was to come out strong and set the tone for the match. We have a lot of hitters that can put the ball down."

A matchup between what has recently been the top two teams in conference was one-sided early.

At 5-5 in the first game, St. Francis ran off 4 straight points on a pair of Vonderhaar kills and a Cassie Rio kill. It was 11-7 when the Spartans tallied 9 of the next 10 points for a 20-8 advantage. Vonderhaar's kill on an overpass started it, Kelsey Robinson put down 2 kills and sophomore middle Daiva Wise knocked down a kill on another Rosary overpass. Robinson's fifth kill of Game 1 finished things.

"Rosary has always played lights-out against us," said St. Francis setter Kristen Kelsay, "so we knew we couldn't come out with a lull in the beginning."

"We just didn't execute in that first game," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said. "Against a team like this you have to run an offense. You can't just give them free balls."

Spartans coach Peg Kopec could find little fault with her team's play in Game 1.

"We came out sharp," Kopec said. "Great defense, good serving - no complaints."

St. Francis ran out to a 6-0 lead in the second game aided by 5 Rosary errors, and led 15-7 after a Gina Madonia ace. Three Breann Maryanski kills and 2 by Shannon Leahy pulled Rosary within 22-18. But a back-row kill by Robinson put the rally to bed and finished the match for St. Francis, which substituted in reserves Sarah Dubiel and Lauren Duncan in Game 2.

"When we were attacking the ball," Kasper said, "we could play with them. We fought back in the second game. The second game was starting like the first, but the girls righted themselves. The second game we ran a two-setter offense to give us more diversity. I think that helped us a little bit."

Robinson had 9 kills and Vonderhaar 7, and Kelsey had 17 set assists for St. Francis (17-0, 5-0). Wise and fellow middle Gabe Zito each added 4 kills.

"It's nice when you can get the middles involved as much as we did," Kopec said.

Emily Weber had 4 kills and Maryanski and Leahy 3 each for Rosary (9-9, 2-3).

Kopec in Sports Illustrated: Sportans coach Peg Kopec received national recognition this week for recently winning her 1,000th career match. Kopec is one of the "Faces in the Crowd" in the Sept. 28 issue of Sports Illustrated.