St. Francis regains footing, advances at Benet tourney
Nobody likes to lose to the same opponent three times in one season.
Yet that's what St. Francis was on its way to doing when it met Neuqua Valley in the Benet Tournament on Friday.
The Spartans lost the first boys volleyball game 25-17 and trailed the second game 11-5 before they got down to business and avoided the three-match sweep with wins of 27-26 and 15-12 to qualify for today's championship bracket.
"After that first game we had to come out with a new mentality," said Joey Murnane of St. Francis. "We had to come together as a team, stay focused and just forget about the loss."
Early on the Wildcats (26-2) dominated with strong blocking and acrobatic digging, but the Spartans (17-3) were determined to not let this match get away as they had in previous meetings against the Wildcats at the Glenbard East and Streamwood tournaments.
"Those other times there was always one part of the game that wasn't working for us," the Spartans' Bob Vonderhaar said. "This time we put it all together -- blocking, hitting and passing. We started communicating better, our passes were working and Neuqua couldn't get it past the net. The blocking was the key."
When the Spartans finally caught the Wildcats in Game 2 at 24-24, a pair of big kills by Vonderhaar made that third game necessary.
"We played with a lot of fire at the end of the first game," said St. Francis coach Mike Lynch. "That made me confident that we were going to force a third game."
Game 3, which was played to only 15 points according to tournament rules, was also a struggle for St. Francis at first.
The Wildcats led 8-7, when a series of big plays by Jeff Dixon, Aaron Metzler, Vonderhaar and Murnane brought the Spartans home for their first win over Neuqua Valley this season.
If Neuqua wins its last pool match today, the two teams could meet later in the day in championship bracket play.
"We always look forward to testing ourselves against Neuqua in these three tournaments every year," Lynch said. "They have a great program and they're a measuring stick for us. This has grown into a rivalry."
Murnane led the Spartans with 10 kills, followed by Dixon with 8. Vonderhaar had 4 blocks and 5 kills, while Mike Segneri dealt 35 assists. Libero Jay Hayes was outstanding with 12 digs.
The Wildcats had their usual balanced scoring led by Jake Blackman's 11 kills. Rob Bauer registered 10 kills and 2 blocks, Derek Menendez had 8 kills and Brian Clark 7 kills and 2 blocks. Brad Stout led the diggers with 9.
"In Game 1 we shut down their offense with a strong block," said Neuqua Valley coach Erich Mendoza. "But they run a very quick offense and we weren't reading it quite as well, so it was hard to key on where they were going to go."