Boys volleyball: St. Francis not backing down

St. Francis isn't shy about setting big goals for this boys volleyball season.

"State," Spartans junior Bryce Walker said without hesitation Tuesday. "We want to win state. There's no reason that we can't."

"Most young teams don't throw out something like that," added St. Francis coach Mike Lynch, "but we do a preseason thing, what their goals are for the year, and a lot of kids put that down this year."

The Spartans don't care who knows it.

"I'm OK with it," Lynch said. "I always tell them, when you set your sights, make it bigger than what you think you can achieve. And we have a super-tough sectional."

The Spartans (23-5, 4-0 Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division) start five sophomores, but you wouldn't know it from their record.

"We're an extremely young team," Lynch said. "We're maturing real quickly, and the chemistry is getting there."

St. Francis continued its strong season Tuesday night with a league victory against archrival Wheaton Academy 25-7, 25-15. The Spartans didn't lose consecutive points in the first set.

"It's been a really good season. All of our losses have been against top teams," Walker said, mentioning Marist and Glenbard West.

Those losses only served to give the Spartans confidence.

"I think a lot of people think of us as a young team, but we have really high expectations for ourselves," Walker said. "In our minds there's nothing that we can't do. We're very happy with how we're doing right now."

Sophomore Kevin Schuele does the setting for Spartans, though he's a hitter for his club team.

"He's really understanding how important it is to get everyone involved," Lynch said. "He runs the outside, the right side, he runs the middle to Bryce Walker on a quick."

Walker, an intimidating 6-foot-8, is committed to play at Purdue-Fort Wayne.

"He's got a heavy arm swing. He bounces that ball," Lynch said of Walker.

Sophomore K.J. Glab led the Spartans with 7 kills against the Warriors, and Walker had 6 kills. Scheule added 17 assists and 2 aces. Senior Marcus Ingold notched 4 kills and 3 digs.

For Wheaton Academy this is a rebuilding year. The Warriors have won only a couple of matches.

"We're young in a couple of positions," Warriors coach D.A. Nichols said. "We have a freshman setter and a sophomore setter and we're just trying to teach them how to set right now. They do good at the JV, but they're still learning."