In a battle of cross-town rivals to start the IHSA state volleyball playoffs, St. Francis played a little bit better to defeat Wheaton North and advance to the next round.
The Spartans took the first game rather easily 25-13 on the strength of two dominant serving performances. The second game remained tight the entire way, but St. Francis was able to score the last two points of the game to win 25-23 and take the match.
“This was a great win for us,” said St. Francis coach Mike Lynch. “This entire year, every game this team has gotten better and better, and they’re starting to believe in themselves now.”
Last year, St. Francis made a deep run in the playoffs, advancing all the way to the sectional semifinals before falling to Glenbard West, which eventually finished third in the state. But after losing their senior firepower, including Jeff Jendryk, who spent this year winning a national championship at Loyola, the Spartans had to back up a few steps and start over.
“We’re a very young team,” Lynch said. “We have only one senior. There was one time tonight when he was off the court, and I looked out there and thought, I can’t believe we don’t have a single senior playing right now.”
But the underclassmen stepped up on the biggest stage of their season so far.
The Spartans got off to a fast start and a 5-2 lead, thanks to a kill by junior Nick Roehl and strong blocking up front. But Wheaton North came right back with kills by junior Ben Hamsho and Max Peckenpaugh to tie the game at five. The game was 7-7 when St. Francis made a small run to up the lead to 10-8 on a missed jump serve from Wheaton North.
That’s when junior Steve Burns took over serving, and his jump serve didn’t miss, helping to deliver five straight points, upping the lead to 15-8. A kill by Peckenpaugh finally ended the run for the Falcons, but the damage was done. The score was 17-11 when junior Timmy Pisarski took over serving for the Spartans, and he did Burns one better, stringing together seven straight points to up the lead to 24-11. The game would end 25-13 on a block by Roehl.
“As a young team often does, we tend to make a lot of unforced errors,” Lynch said. “We cut way down on those errors, and that made a big difference. We were keeping the ball in play and creating offense for ourselves.”
Wheaton North came out much stronger in the second game, opening up a 5-2 lead on a Hamsho kill. But the Spartans fought back to tie the game at six, and the rest of the way neither team would lead by more than two points. Wheaton North pulled ahead 10-8, but St. Francis scored the next two points to tie it at 10. It was tied again at 12, 13, 16, and 18, when St. Francis took a time out. After that, St. Francis took the lead on junior Conor Reinke’s kill. But the Falcons answered right back on a kill from senior Ethan Peterson. Both teams traded service errors to tie the game at 20.
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A kill by Wheaton North’s Hamsho gave them a one-point lead at 22-21, but the Spartans responded with a kill from Pisarski. Pisarski’s next serve was mishandled by the Falcons to give St. Francis a one-point lead, but a kill from Peckenpaugh pulled the Falcons even again.
St. Francis went ahead 24-23 on Reinke’s kill, and they won the match on the next play, thanks to a kill from Burns that went off of a Wheaton North block.
Lynch highlighted the work of his setter, sophomore Jack McGuire, as a reason the team has been able to improve so quickly this year.
“Especially in the last two weeks, he’s really come along,” Lynch said. “We ran a 6-2 offense for the first half of the year, with two setters. We moved it to just him, running a 5-1, which is a lot of pressure on him. And he’s handled it very well.”
St. Francis (18-17) was led by Pisarski, who had 11 kills and 14 service points, including three aces. McGuire had 20 assists and Reinke contributed with 8 kills. Wheaton North (7-29) was led by Hamsho, who had eight kills, and Peterson with six.
The No. 12 seeded St. Francis next takes on Naperville North, a No. 6 seed, in the IHSA playoffs.
“We’re making our way up through the (DuPage Valley Conference),” Lynch said with a laugh. “We’re a small school with 800 kids, but if we keep playing like this, we can play with the big (schools).”
Banowetz is a freelance reporter.
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