Boys volleyball: St. Francis falls in state quarterfinal to Loyola; York advances to semifinals

Making its first boys volleyball state finals appearance, St. Francis thought it was a good sign when it lost the opening set of its quarterfinal clash with Loyola.

After all, in the two Catholic League Conference meetings between the teams this season, the team that lost the first set won the next two.

While the Spartans rallied to win the second set in the quarterfinal, they couldn’t keep up in the third. Loyola emerged with a 25-21, 23-25, 25-15 victory in the third state quarterfinal on Friday afternoon at Hoffman Estates.

The Ramblers (38-2), who are making their first state appearance in 30 years and will bring home their first trophy, will face York, a 25-17, 25-17 winner over Lincoln-Way West, at 11 a.m. Saturday in the second semifinal.

“All of our matches went three sets and whoever lost the first set won the next two,” Loyola coach Lionel Ebeling said. “(St Francis coach) Mike Lynch had an amazing team and he’s an amazing coach. I’m glad for them to get here but we had aggressive serving, especially by Nathan Chi, that was the catalyst.

“This is by far the most complete team I’ve had.”

Ebeling has been the Rambler coach since 2005 and was happy when they opened the third set on a 4-0 run and led the whole way. Ahead 7-5, they went on a 12-2 blitz that saw an ace from Chi (31 assists, three aces three digs) and a block by senior outside hitter Jack Lopez (20 kills, 4 blocks).

Dean Sollecito, a senior middle hitter, had eight kills and four digs, senior opposite side hitter Benjamin Trapp totaled seven kills and three blocks, and sophomore defensive specialist Aldis Kins added eight digs for the Ramblers.

Trailing 19-7 in the third set, the Spartans (28-9) had a 6-1 burst of their own behind two blocks and a kill by senior setter Kyle Zediker (27 assists, 10 kills, 4 blocks, 6 digs) but couldn’t get closer than seven points.

“We came back and fought,” Zediker said. “We’re going to play the way we play but Loyola was on in the third set and played a great game.”

There were 10 ties in the first set. But trailing 19-17, Lopez lashed five kills as Loyola went on a 7-0 run to take charge. St Francis led 19-15 and 20-17 in the second set but the Ramblers rallied for leads of 22-21 and 23-22. The Spartans, however, captured the set as senior outside hitter Eddie Mulder (14 kills, 2 digs, ace) sandwiched a pair of kills around a wide hit.

“We’re here because of these guys,” Lynch said of his team. “These guys put this run together. I’ve been coaching for 26 years (since 1999) and would come here as a fan and wonder what it would be like to be on this floor. We had a great season, we beat six of the Top 12 ranked teams in the state and we accomplished a lot making the final eight.”

Gavin Gonzalez (six kills, two assists, five digs) on the outside and Nick Madden (five kills, three blocks, two digs) and Aaron Cook (four kills, three blocks) in the middle, along with fellow senior, libero JT McCormick (10 digs, five assists) all contributed for the Spartans.

“I’ll remember the first time we beat Loyola,” said Muller of the Spartans 13-25, 25-22, 25-23 win on April 16 before losing the second match 18-25, 25-16, 25-19 on May 2. Also, just the energy we played with. Knowing it was an accomplishment to be the first to make it here means a lot to us.”

York d. Lincoln-Way Central

York coach boys volleyball coach Ken Dowdy had to stop and buy another Hawaiian shirt.

Since the postseason started, Dowdy has donned a Hawaiian shirt at his teams’ matches. He’s also grown a playoff mustache. He hopes all those good luck charms continue on Saturday because the Dukes will be there.

They were in control during a 25-17, 25-17 win over Lincoln-Way West on Friday afternoon in the last quarterfinal of the state finals at Hoffman Estates.

Playing in its first state tournament since 1999, York (36-4) will bring home its first trophy since placing third in 1997. The Dukes will face Loyola in the second semifinal at approximately 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Ramblers (38-2) defeated St. Francis 25-21, 23-25, 25-15 in the quarterfinals.

“I’ll continue that until the end of the playoffs,” Dowdy said of his Hawaiian apparrell. “But (against Lincoln-Way West) we had a great scouting report. We also had a really good serve-receive and kept them out of rhythm.”

Things started well enough for Lincoln-Way West (32-8) with a 10-8 lead in the opening set. Then it was the Dukes pretty much the rest of the way. Behind two kills apiece by senior outside hitter Jack Bute (9 kills, 9 digs) and senior middle hitter Logan Rice (6 kills) York went on an 8-1 burst for a 16-11 lead.

The Warriors, who were making their first state appearance since losing in the state quarterfinals in 2018, never got closer than four after that.

The second set was more of the same as Lincoln-Way West led 3-1 but the Dukes scored four in a row and led the rest of the way. The Warriors closed within 16-13 midway through the set but that was as close as they got.

A kill by senior outside hitter Ben Brown (9 kills, 4 digs) ended it. Sophomore middle hitter Hunter Stepanich (5 kills, 3 blocks) and senior setter Jack Zitek (19 assists, 4 digs) also contributed for the Dukes, who have won 21 in a row and 24 of 25 since a 25-22, 25-17 loss to Lyons on April 16.

“We lost to Lyons and I was going to call a team meeting the next day,” Dowdy said. “But the team already had done that themselves.”

Brown believes in his guys.

“We have the best chemistry on and off the court,” Brown said. “We just all love each other and have the mentality to play for each other.”

Playing in his final high school match, Lincoln-Way West senior outside hitter Connor Jaral had eight kills and five digs. Setter Noah Konopack (19 assists, 2 digs) was the only other senior starter for the Warriors. Juniors Drew Kregul (5 kills) in the middle and Hunter Vedder (5 kills) on the outside, along with junior libero Andrew Flores (7 digs) are expected back next season.

“York passed well and played in system and we couldn’t get on any runs,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jodi Frigo said. " We discussed coming into this season that we lost a lot of strong players from last season’s (30-10) team. But we put ourselves in position to get stronger every day and we did that. We should have seven juniors back next year.”

Jaral, who will continue to play volleyball at Loras College, will remember what got the team to this point.

“I’ll just remember the road here,” he said. “Going downstate and beating Belleville (East 25-18, 27-29, 26-24) in the sectional final. Just the journey to get here.”

So will the Dukes as it’s taken nearly three decades to get back to this point.

“At the start of the season, I didn’t know if we were very good or elite,” Dowdy said. “Now we’re playing on Saturday and we’re elite.”