Upstart Mustangs win Catholic League

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St. Rita made a little history at St. Ignatius.

John Bisiules had nine kills, Dave Fashingbauer added eight kills and Andrew Kats had two kills and seven blocks as the fifth-seeded Mustangs (23-9) became the lowest seed to win the Catholic League tournament in its 18-year history by beating St. Ignatius 17-25, 25-22, 25-17.

“They just put up great blocks and we found them,” said St. Ignatius coach Mark Johnston. “It came down to which team was going to work harder and St. Rita is a hard-working team.”

St. Rita reached the finals by defeating No. 1 seed Loyola (30-5) in pool play Friday and No. 4 seed Providence (22-13) on Saturday. St. Ignatius (27-7) was seeded third, but took down No. 2 Brother Rice (19-16) 15-25, 25-14, 25-18 in the semifinals to advance.

St. Ignatius nearly squandered a 22-12 lead in Game 3 against Brother Rice before a pair of back-row kills by 6-foot-5 senior outside Peter Doerrer ended the suspense.

“We got a little too comfortable out there,” Doerrer said. “Ignatius is never known to keep leads ... in any sport.”

Fresh off its big win over the Crusaders, St. Ignatius scored the first nine points of the title match as St. Rita tried to shake the cobwebs following a three-hour layoff.

“We got off to a rough start,” Bisiules said. “We weren’t ready to go. But we picked it up and our hitting got better, our passing got better and our defense got better.”

Kats provided a spark in Game 2, collecting three of his blocks to give the Mustangs a 17-12 lead. St. Ignatius rallied to grab a 22-20 advantage behind Doerrer (16 kills, two blocks) and Matt Fahey (six kills, two blocks), but a pair of Fashingbauer kills and Kats’ block on game point forced a third game.

“I got into a flow and couldn’t get out of it,” Kats said. “In Game 3, we wanted to keep the ball in play and play defense.”

After committing 24 errors in the first two games of the championship match, St. Rita was nearly flawless in Game 3. Meanwhile, St. Ignatius began to wilt under the press and four Wolfpack errors turned an 18-15 deficit into a 24-17 hole.

St. Rita’s Colin Anderson sealed the win with a tip kill on match point.

“Our goal coming in was to win the championship,” Bisiules said. “I’m glad we were able to step it up at the end.”

Loyola, which rallied past Providence 21-25, 25-18, 25-19 in its final match of pool play, defeated Brother Rice 25-27, 25-21, 25-20 for third.