St. Francis Prep celebrates a point. (Damion Reid)
St. Francis Prep’s Talia Colasante (22) had 18 kills against Fontbonne. (Damion Reid)
St. Francis Prep was going through the motions, ho humming its way through another match in a league where it hasn’t lost in five seasons. The Terriers weren’t happy with how they played last week against Archbishop Molloy and the same issues bit them against Fontbonne Hall, which shocked SFP in a first-set victory.
“We’re so used to just walking into every game and knowing how it’s going to turn out that we take for granted how hard we have to play,” senior outside hitter Julia Paternoster said. “We needed a wakeup call.”
If so, that set loss was their alarm clock.
St. Francis Prep, ranked No. 2 in the city by The Post, took it to No. 4 Fontbonne in the next three sets, beating the visiting Bonnies, 21-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-13, in CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division I girls volleyball. The victory locks up yet another regular-season crown for the Terriers (9-0), who will go into the league playoffs next week with a bye as the top seed.
The win was seriously in doubt early, though. A 6-0 service run by Amanda Glodowski gave Fontbonne (8-2) a 23-19 lead and Paternoster was crushed when her service ace sealed the Bonnies’ first-set victory – especially considering it was Senior Day at St. Francis.
“I did not want that to happen while I was captain,” Paternoster said.
She rebounded and finished with nine kills and 10 digs. Terriers coach Kevin Colucci switched to a 5-1 from a 6-2 in the second set, because he wanted to get senior setter Julia Hannigan (25 assists) more touches. It certainly worked with her distributing the offense well, mostly to outside hitter Talia Colasante, who had six of her 18 kills in the second set.
“I was in a funk,” Colasante said. “I kept saying, I need it back, I need it back. I guess I did.”
The junior hit for an excellent percentage and sent Fontbonne, a very good defensive team, scrambling every time she got a swing. Colasante has raised her game since starting as a sophomore and has to be one of the most powerful hitters in the city. She also had nine service aces.
“She’s a beast,” Paternoster said. “Her hits don’t compare to anyone else’s. If I was on the other team I’d definitely be scared if she was coming up.”
There really wasn’t a hitter on Prep who didn’t have a good match. Sophomore middle Caitlin O’Doherty had six kills and three blocks, sophomore outside Kiara Pierre had five kills and three aces and sophomore middle Kelly Flynn had four kills two three blocks.
“They were running all over the place trying to figure out where Julia was going to set the ball,” Colucci said. “It’s nice to have more than one or two weapons, so you can’t key up on them.”
Senior libero Rita Romeo (15 digs) put the cap on Senior Day with a 4-0 service run, including three straight aces, in the fourth set. St. Francis Prep looked like a completely different team in the final three sets, a good sign for this time of the season. It was reminiscent of the 2008 Brooklyn/Queens semifinals when the Bonnies took the first set from the Terriers before they stormed back.
St. Francis will be looking for its fourth straight Brooklyn/Queens title in the coming weeks. Fontbonne might have just woken up a sleeping giant.
“This is the game where all our mistakes, we fixed,” Colasante said. “This is a good way to start off the playoffs with this intensity. We know what we have to do.”
