St Francis closes out Marian Central

Updated: October 3, 2011 9:30PM

Maybe it was the five matches on Saturday. Or perhaps the long bus ride from Woodstock to Wheaton.

Monday at St. Francis, Marian Central did not look anything like the team that took the Suburban Christian Conference division-leading Spartans to the wire in a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21 loss on September 7.

But Marian Central’s Abby Gilleland was not looking for excuses.

“I wouldn’t say (the weekend and bus ride) that’s the reason we lost,” Gilleland said. “We came ready to play in the beginning. I wouldn’t say our tiredness had anything to do with it.

“It’s the middle of the season,” she added. “It’s that point where you just have to find the energy to keep it going. That’s where we are right now.”

Marian Central (17-5, 5-2) had some energy early and late, grabbing a 5-2 lead in Game 2 then rallying from a 23-13 deficit to pull within 23-21. But it wasn’t enough to prevent No. 9 St. Francis (24-6, 7-0) from closing out the Hurricanes, 25-21, 25-12.

Marian Central entered Monday’s match on the heels of a five-match sweep of the Hampshire tournament including a three-set win over Jacobs in the final. Jacobs had recently gone three sets with No. 7 Huntley.

“I feel like this weekend we took a lot of steps forward as a team and individually,” Gilleland said. “We have a lot of girls…we have all the talent. We’re just still working on applying it. So I feel like today wasn’t necessarily the way we’ve been working on things. But it’s a learning experience.”

Marian Central has had to replace three starters from last year’s Class 3A third-place finisher -- libero Dena Ott, middle Shelby Cassesse and rightside Kaitlyn Hartlieb – and suffered another blow when starting middle hitter Shannon Wuensch dislocated an ankle in the team’s second match of the season.

Sophomore Hannah Davis was thrust into a starting role, and all parties involved are still acclimating to the change.

“We’re working hard to get Hannah adjusted to the team,” Gilleland said. “It has gone well so far.

“There are little things throughout the game,” she added. “We were super excited and ready to go at the beginning of the season. That (Wuensch’s injury) took us a couple steps back. So we had to work on making up for that instead of focusing on other things.

“But Hannah is doing a phenomenal job stepping in,” Gilleland said.

Davis had just one kill Monday for Marian Central, which got five kills apiece from Meredith Patterson and Tara Blake, four kills from Emma Hussey and 14 assists, a kill and an ace from Gilleland.

Meanwhile, Daiva Wise had eight kills and an ace, Grace Churney had five kills and Carly Warner had 15 assists and three kills for St. Francis, which is riding high after going 3-2 at the Asics Challenge including a big win over 2010 Asics tournament champion Cary-Grove.

“I did tell the girls that they (Marian Central’s players) do kind of live by Cary-Grove,” St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. “We had played so well against Cary-Grove. Apparently, that worked.”

Kopec admitted she was a bit uncomfortable when the visitors jumped out to that early lead in Game 1.

“I was scared,” she said. “I was nervous. The last time we played them it was so close. Three points is a big deal. This was a big win for us. They were only beaten by us in conference.

“We’re not leaping forward, but we keep moving up so when you do fall back a little bit you don’t fall back as far,” she added. “Hopefully, you just keep moving. I thought we looked good tonight.”

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