St. Francis welcomes pressure, wins Pumpkin title

With the championship of the Maine West Pumpkin Invite on the line, St. Francis junior Meg Vonderhaar was hardly shying away from the pressure while facing highly ranked Lyons Twp.

The 6-foot-1 outside hitter scored 6 straight points for the Spartans with 5 kills and a block in Game 3 to help sway the momentum and her team went on to record a 21-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory on Saturday afternoon in Des Plaines.

"Meg can come through like that," said Spartans coach Peg Kopec, whose team is 31-2. "She's becoming so mobile. She can hit in different spots."

Three consecutive big hits by Vonderhaar gave the Spartans a 17-13 in the decisive game. Moments later, Vonderhaar's sixth kill in her "mini run" gave her team a 20-17.

An ace by Nebraska-bound Kristen Kelsay put St. Francis ahead 23-20 lead.

Senior Kelsey Robinson, who belted a team-high 19 kills, rifled one down the line to make it 24-21.

Lyons (29-2) fought back to within 24-23 before the Spartans won the match on a kill by Vonderhaar.

"This was a lot of fun," Vonderhaar said. "Everyone contributed. We had a lot of team chemistry. We came out a little scared in Game 1. Then we knew we had to pick it up."

Robinson also had 10 digs and 4 blocks in the match.

Kelsay delivered 38 assists and served 3 aces while Katie Parisi collected 9 digs.

"This is always an excellent tournament," Kopec said. "So it's always nice to come to the Pumpkin and be a winner."

The Spartans defeated Sandburg 22-25, 25-8, 25-17 in the semifinals. The Eagles handed St. Francis its first loss of the year at the Asics Challenge.

In the title match Lyons did not have the services of its top attacker, junior Jocelyn Birks, who left earlier in the day for a family function.

"It was a pretty tight match with a highly ranked opponent and we were definitely out-sized without our one player," said Lyons coach Joann Pyritz. "I thought we played as smart as we could and I am really proud of our effort."