JV Falcons serve up third straight win; varsity gives St. Laurence scare

Faith Christian Academy's JV squad delivered a 26-24, 25-9 victory over St. Laurence School's sixth-grade boys volleyball team while the varsity Falcons continued making great strides and improvement, giving St. Laurence all it could handle before their eighth-grade team survived 24-26, 25-14, 15-8 on Thursday at FCA.

St. Laurence pummeled Faith in two quick sets last month in Elgin, but the Falcons showed marked improvement in the rematch. FCA broke out to a 15-8 first-set lead behind 4-for-4 serving and three service winners by Osten "Robin" Lockner, a pair of kills from Mackenzie "Mack Attack" VanDerSnick and great passing by everyone on the court. St. Laurence rallied to tie the score at 24-24, but FCA broke the visitors' serve and Jessica "Sky" Smith delivered an ace to clinch the set in Faith's favor.

Jessica earned the hustle award thanks to four assists, seven passes to setter and numerous rescues of bad passes that she either kept alive or successfully passed or tipped into St. Laurence's court. Paige "Broadway" Petty earned the best attitude award. Paige was repeatedly ready to go from point to point, delivering eight passes to setter, two kills and numerous passes deep into St. Laurence's court off errant passes. Special mention goes to Osten, who played a great floor game with 14 passes to setter and three fantastic digs, and Mackenzie, who registered 11 passes to setter and three kills. We still need work on our consistency, but the Falcons have made great progress from week to week in spite of missing two key starters this week. Mrs. Weeks and Coach Smith are proud of your growth as a team and as players -- let's keep it up!

The JV's victory was its third consecutive win and was a result of a true team effort, particularly the team's terrific serving. Faith wore down St. Laurence with its accurate serving, going 25 for 28 with an ace and 18 service winners in the first set. FCA also did a great job of passing, setting and being ready to go for the ball in building a 21-8 first-set lead. St. Laurence made a furious comeback, tying the score 24-24 before a St. Laurence service error and an ace by "King" Cole Schulze propeled Faith to the first-set victory.

Josiah "J-Gart" Gartner and "Easy" Ethan Hansen pushed FCA ahead quickly in the second set en route to the win and the match. Ethan went 5 for 5 with three service winners, and Josiah was 13 for 13 with two aces and 10 service winners to stake Faith to a 20-6 lead. Mikey "Handball" Hanley (4 for 4, ace, two service winners) and Adam "Tolstoy" Tollios (2 for 3, two service winners) helped Faith expand its lead on its way to a 25-9 win.

Cole earned the best attitude award behind five passes to setter, six assists and numerous blocks, tips and hustle plays to keep rallies alive and finish points with his all-out hustle along the net at setter. Great performance, Cole! Mikey shared the best attitude award for the improvement she showed in her serving, which was the result of her determination and hard work to learn a new skill that can be difficult to master as a first-year player. Mikey went 5 for 5 serving for her first successful serves of the season. Way to go, Mikey!

Ethan and Josiah shared the hustle award for their communication and effort to pass and dig balls and keep plays alive. Ethan recorded four assists, five passes to setter and three kills, including two nicely placed kills. Josiah had three passes to setter and showed good discipline in not only improving his serving form and consistency during practice but staying focused and patient in setting up and going through his approach serve after serve in his second set scoring spurt! Way to work and sharpen your games, Falcons -- keep at it!

The boys next practice till 5 p.m. Monday while the girls take on Westfield Middle School in a girls volleyball match at 4:15 p.m. in Bloomingdale. Go Falcons!