Wheaton St. Francis hands Providence 1st volleyball defeat

WHEATON -- Two of the state's premier high school boys volleyball teams squared off on Monday.

And Providence Catholic suffered its first loss, dropping a 16-25, 29-27, 25-15 decision to Wheaton St. Francis.

For the Celtics (23-1), Chase Pavlick had 30 digs and 5 kills and Hayden Gove had 15 kills, 3 blocks and 7 points. Eric Daliege produced 10 kills and 3 blocks, Dan Ruzich had 8 kills and 31 digs. Denny Falls tallied 4 kills and 3 blocks and Jonathan Gustafson registered 35 assists and 8 points.

"We did not play well and St. Francis did," Providence coach Cindy Olczyk said.

Lincoln-Way East 25-25, Andrew 19-15 -- At Tinley Park, Mike McKenzie had 10 kills, 3 blocks and 7 points for the Griffins (17-16, 6-4) in the SouthWest Prairie win. Ryan Wallenga had 6 digs and 5 points, Mike Bolhuis 7 digs and 4 kills, Nick Janky 8 kills, Dan Hunt 21 assists and 7 points and George Langheld 4 solo blocks.

Joliet Township 25-25, Lockport 20-21 -- At Joliet, Corey Frain had 7 kills, 10 blocks, 5 points and 3 aces for the Steelmen (17-17, 6-6) in the SouthWest Suburban Blue triumph. Adding 5 kills were Adam Hucek, Brent Lundstrum, Dylan Frederick and Phillip Murray. Hucek produced 22 assists.

Hucek, Greg Frederick and Murray had 5 blocks.

JCA 25-25, Marian Catholic 11-18 -- At Chicago Heights, Alex Warpinski finished with 12 kills for the Hillmen (18-13, 6-3) in the East Suburban Catholic Conference win. Brian Bucciarelli had 3 aces for JCA, which finished third in the conference.

Joliet Township 5, Minooka 0 -- At Minooka, sophomore forward Krissy Dorre scored 3 goals to power JT (12-8) to the nonconference win. Morgan Graves and Veronica Gallegos also scored for the Steelmen. Kim Vertin made 17 saves for her sixth shutout.

Lewis players cited -- Lewis University senior softball player Mallory Paine and juniors Courtney Lyons and Kelly Dianis have earned recognition on both the Nationa Fastpitch Coaches Association and Daktronics, Inc. 2008 All-Great Lakes Region teams.

Dianis, a first-team selection for both Daktronics, Inc. and NFCA teams, led the Flyers (38-18) in batting average, slugging percentage, RBIs and on-base percentage. She hit 11 doubles and 7 homers, joining Paine as the only two Flyers in program history to hit 20 or more careeer homers. She was second in hits with 49.

Paine, an NFCA and Daktronics first-team pick for a third straight year, was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 5 first team.

Paine, the Flyers' all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, hit .423 in GLVC games and led the team with 10 homers. Her 36 RBIs and .581 slugging percentage was second for the Flyers (38-18).

Lyons is a Daktronics, Inc., first-team choice for a third straight year, and made the NFCA all-region second squad. for a second consecutive time. She won 20 games and was second in the GLVC in wins and ERA. This season, she led Lewis pitchers in complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts.

USF's Boezeman, Behrens honored -- University of St. Francis sophomores Kendel Behrens from Morris High School and Lincoln-Way East's Beth Boezeman were named to the NAIA all-Region VII first team.

Behrens, the Saints' center fielder, led USF with a .398 batting average. She stole 8 bases in 9 attempts and committed just 3 errors in 45 chances.

Boezeman, a second baseman, was the Saints' most productive hitter with a .376 batting average. She hit a team-high 6 homers and a team-best 37 RBIs. Twice she hit homers in both ends of a doubleheader in CCAC play.

Boezeman made just 4 errors for USF (26-17, 14-4 in the CCAC). She pitched in 17 games, making 5 starts. She was 6-3.