Spartans Knock Off Mother McAuley, Marian Central Catholic

St. Francis' girls volleyball team, which suffered its first loss to of the season last weekend to Moline, resumed their winning ways Wednesday when they beat previously-undefeated Marian Central Catholic, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20. 

They continued when they traveled to Chicago to defeat Mother MacAuley, 25-18, 25-21. The host team's gym "was rocking," according to Spartans coach, Peg Kopec, but St. Francis took it to the Mighty Macs, which advanced to the Class 4A super sectionals last season. 

"It was very exciting," Kopec said. "I think this was the best I've seen them play this year. We were very strong, very steady in all categories."

Despite the team's victory over Marian Central Wednesday, Kopec said she wasn't pleased with the fact that her squad committed 18 hitting errors.

"We were lackluster and it was not a very solid performance," she said. "They had to believe in themselves and pull themselves together."

And that they did. Junior Davia Wise led the Spartans (13-1) with 12 kills, and senior Meg Vonderhaar chipped in with 11. Senior libero Gina Madonia had 11 digs, while classmate Theresa Katarzynski contributed 10. Kelly Reinke, also a senior, registered 27 assists.

"I think everybody played well, and I don't have any complaints," Kopec said, whose team resumes action Monday night at Rosary High School.

St. Francis defeats Marian Central:

Spartan players saluted their grandparents on "Grandparents Night" Wednesday at the Spyglass Center. Gina Madonia wrote a letter honoring her grandfather, Martin, then treated both him and the Spartans to a volleyball serving clinic later in the evening.

The Spartans trailed Suburban Catholic Conference opponent Marian Central, 20-19, in the third game of their match after holding a commanding 11-3 lead at one point.

But St. Francis regained serve after junior Grace Churney's kill tied it 20-20. Then Madonia went to work. She handcuffed Marian Central with four straight service aces and served out the match to lift the Spartans to victory.

"Gina's a very good server," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said afterward. "I thought we just made a lot of mistakes tonight, and not that they (Marian Central) don't force things; they're a fine team. They played good defense, very scrappy defense. I thought they were very good. One time I thought we celebrated a little early. You just can't count them out, ever.

"We have some work to do."

Churney and Meg Vonderhaar came through with kills at critical junctures throughout the match for St. Francis. Vonderhaar led the Spartans with 13 kills, while Churney notched 12 kills and two blocks. Kelly Reinke finished with 20 assists.

"After we got our serve back, Gina got on a run and we were able to finish," Churney said. "We had to keep up the energy the entire time and have confidence."