List of 3 news stories.

• Anna Calcagno, St. Francis feeling super about going home

  St. Francis outside hitter Anna Calcagno was not afraid of showing her emotions throughout Wednesday’s match against Carmel.

  The Marshall recruit was among the six seniors on the Spartans involved in a win-or-go-home match in the Class 3A Vernon Hills Sectional finale.

  But for the Spartans, going home had a different meaning.

  Behind a superb effort from Calcagno, the Spartans will be going home while also moving a step closer to a state bid after defeating Carmel 25-21, 13-25, 25-16 to advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. St. Francis Supersectional against Nazareth.

  Besides helping her team to state, Calcagno said she was motivated to not be forced to watch Friday’s supersectional as a spectator. The Spartans (28-12) have the rare luxury of hosting the supersectional this season.

  Calcagno was superb in the highly contested match. She finished with 15 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. For the season, Calcagno now has 405 kills. 

  Still, the Spartans relied on a collective effort to knock off the Corsairs (32-6). Middle hitter Olivia Hojnicki had eight kills and three blocks and Kennedy Riggs tallied eight kills and 15 digs. Libero Katlyn Sipes finished with 17 digs and Natalie Ingold netted 30 assists and 22 digs. 

  “It wasn’t time for this team to be done,” Calcagno said. “We’re still playing. We’re not ready to go home. I think it’s truly amazing to be with a team like this. Everyone has grown and we’re slowing moving to our goal. Our motto at the beginning of the season was “Dream Big” and we’ve slowly been chasing it ever since.”

  The seniors have been motivated all season to end the program’s state drought. Former coach Peg Kopec led the program to 12 state championships, finishing her career with four consecutive titles, in her illustrious 40-year coaching career. 

  Since Kopec retired, the Spartans have maintained a high level but not advanced to state in the past three years. Calcagno, a four-year varsity starter, made a point earlier this season to note that omission.

  “Going back to St. Francis was a huge motivation,” St. Francis coach Lisa Ston said. “You want to be able to go home and play that match. We knew Carmel was going to be an outstanding team. Having the luck to be able to go back and play at St. Francis was a nice motivator.”

  Calli Riggs, a junior outside hitter, said the team used the motivation of playing at home in the supersectional to get off to leads of 5-1 and 10-3 in the third set.

  “We really wanted to bring it home,” she said. “We knew we had to push really hard because Carmel is a great team and we played really well as a team. It’s a great feeling to be going back home to play.”

  Kennedy Riggs, a sophomore outside hitter, agreed: “We knew it was our last chance in the third set. We had to put everything out on the floor and play great defense, and we did that.”

  The Spartans rode consecutive kills by Calcagno late in the first set to pull out the win. In the second set, Carmel’s Eileen Tarcha was unstoppable at the net to help the Corsairs force a third set.

  Calcagno set the tone with numerous thundering kills in the final set, celebrating each time with her teammates by jumping up and down and pumping her fists. 

  “Anna is incredible in that she has the physical ability to take over a match,” Ston said. “When she is on, she’s very hard to stop because of her ability to hit all the shots. She can see the floor really well. Her goal coming into her freshman year was to make it downstate. When you are a senior, it gives you that little bit more to try and get there.”

  Please click on link below to read more…

  https://www.kcchronicle.com/2019/11/07/girls-volleyball-anna-calcagno-st-francis-feeling-super-about-going-home/a9izqp8/

• Carmel, St. Francis to Meet for Sectional Title

  Grayslake North girls volleyball coach, Jim Sarver had done his homework. "That big girl is going to Marshall,''' Sarver said. "She's a Division I talent." That big girl is named Anna Calcagno. She plays outside hitter for St. Francis. On Monday night, she had 10 kills, 5 digs and 2 blocks. Sarver's team had the quick start, however. With Abby Cunningham at the serving line, a kill from Alyssa Gerzel and a block from Emma Hochstein gave the Knights a 6-2 lead. There were 7 ties in the first set but St. Francis eventually dominated and will advance to Wednesday night's Class 3A sectional final against top-seeded Carmel after a 25-17, 25-14 win over the best team in school history at Grayslake North. "That should be an exciting match,'' Calcagno predicted of Wednesday's title match. Calcagno ended the early surge by softly putting the ball over the net. The last tie in the opening set was 16-16. Katlyn Sipes was at the serving line for the Spartans. Calcagno put down a block and kill and St. Francis was up front. Sierra Zygmunt was next at the line. She used a block from Olivia Hojnicki and a kill from Kennedy Riggs to end the set. There was one tie in the second set. It was at 5-5. St. Francis setter Natalie Ingold (19 assists, 6 digs) likes her position. "I like to help my team,'' she noted. With Ingold at the serving line, she registered an ace and St. Francis (27-12) was up 13-8. Calcagno was at the serving line when the match concluded. She notched a pair of aces and even had a kill. St. Francis coach Lisa Ston watched her Wednesday night foe in the first match. Carmel is the No. 1 seed; Ston's team is No. 2 "They are very good on offense,'' Ston said of the Corsairs. Please click on link below to read more… https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20191104/girls-volleyball-carmel-st-francis-to-meet-for-sectional-title

• Calcagno, St. Francis beat Montini in three games

  St. Francis senior outside hitter Anna Calcagno is missing one key element on her high school volleyball resume.

  As a four-year varsity starter, Calcagno has already established herself as one of the best players in the Chicago area. She wrapped up her recruiting before her senior season by committing to Marshall in late April.

  So what's missing?

   

  "I came to St. Francis to win state," Calcagno said. "That's the end goal. Last year we lost in the supersectionals, but this year we're coming back ready to go."

   

  Calcagno did her part in a 16-25, 25-18, 25-16 comeback win over Montini on Tuesday. She recorded 16 kills to spark the Spartans.

   

  Playing in front of former St. Francis legendary coach Peg Kopec, Calcagno said she's focused on ending the program's state title drought. Calcagno was an eighth-grader when Kopec closed out her illustrious career with a Win No. 1,238 -- a two-set victory over Glenbard West for a Class 3A title on Nov. 14, 2015.

   

  "I was with (that team) on the road to state, but I didn't make the trip down," Calcagno said.

   

  After playing an error-filled first game, the Spartans (5-2) cleaned up their mistakes and relied on the big hitting of Calcagno.

   

  Calli Riggs added 6 kills, Kennedy Riggs and Olivia Hojnicki both had 5 kills while Natalie Ingold tallied 19 assists and Elise Ward contributed 18 assists. Katlyn Sipes finished with 12 digs for the Spartans.                                                                                                                             

  The Spartans immediately fell into a 3-0 hole and trailed 17-12 before making some key adjustments.

   

   

   

  "Thus far, we have not been a great first set team and have struggled out of the box this year," St. Francis coach Lisa Ston said. "They just have to get in their groove and it takes them a little bit to do that. The second set, we knew their outsides were their go-to players and tried to adjust to stopping them and get Anna more into the offense, so she could be more explosive.

   

  Calcagno led the comeback with two key kills midway through the second game to help the Spartans pull away 14-11. In the third game she had three kills in a 4-point sequence to give the Spartans a cushion at 22-11.

   

  "Her play from this year to last year is night and day," Ston said of Calcagno. "She's stepping up immensely for us, and is leading our team very well this year."

   

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  https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190910/girls-volleyball-calcagno-st-francis-beat-montini-in-three-games