Spartans power past Glenbard West, again

Updated: April 30, 2011 10:41PM

Glenbard West just can’t get past the name.

“We’ve played St. Francis three times, and each match has gone three games and we’ve lost by two points each time,” said Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Mayer.

So Saturday’s finals of the Benet tournament was just more of the same for the Hilltoppers.

St. Francis (22-7) fought off two match points and tournament MVP Jack Mordell finished off the third game with a kill and a block as the Spartans made it three in a row against their neighborhood rivals, 14-25, 25-21, 26-24.

“We’re a better team,” Giunta-Mayer said. “We play anybody else – Lincoln-Way East, Providence, Neuqua Valley – and we show it. But when we play St. Francis, we can’t get past the name.”

Glenbard West (20-6) rallied from a 20-15 deficit in Game Three to grab a 24-22 lead on a block by 6-foot-5 middle hitter Adam Lepold (10 kills, two blocks). But a lift and a hitting error got St. Francis even, and Mordell did the rest.

“When we come out ready to play and play with energy, we can play with anybody,” said Mordell, who had 13 assists, seven kills, a block and an ace in the title match. “We just came out flat in the first game.”

Glenbard West made quick work of St. Francis in Game 1, building leads of 12-6, 19-9 and 23-11. A dump kill by setter Alex Emanuel (18 assists) gave the Hilltoppers a 17-14 lead in Game Two, but the Spartans answered with a 9-3 run aided by three kills and a block by Ryan Hanrahan.

St. Francis broke a 6-6 tie to grab a 15-10 advantage in Game 3, but 6-1 junior Alex Kahn’s 10th kill of the game pulled Glenbard West even at 20-all. A quick-hitter by Lepold and a Kahn block gave the Toppers two match points at 24-22.

But Mordell refused to let St. Francis lose.

“I think we lost some emotion at 15-10,” Mordell said. “But then we started passing better and putting some balls away.”

Matt Krese had nine kills, Hanrahan added seven kills and a block and junior setter Jake Tibble added 10 assists and a kill for St. Francis. Kahn led Glenbard West with 18 kills and 6-7 junior Ian Lawson added five kills and a block, but he was shut out in Game Three.

“It’s not easy to beat a good team three times in a season,” St. Francis coach Mike Lynch said. “We weren’t creating points in the first game, and you have to against a great team like Glenbard West.

“This is a big rivalry for these kids,” Lynch added. “A lot of them go to grade school and middle school together. They’ve known each other for a long time.”

The teams will get acquainted one more time in a few days when they meet at Glenbard West on May 11.

“I think this match gives us some new-found confidence,” Mordell said. “We haven’t peaked yet. We’re still climbing the mountain.”

Neuqua Valley (23-4), which lost to Glenbard West 25-20, 31-29 in the semifinals, defeated Benet 25-20, 25-21 for third place. Benet (18-9) succumbed to St. Francis 26-28, 25-19, 25-18 in the other semifinal.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.