Host St. Viator rose to the occasion with probably its best effort of the season against York on Thursday evening.

Lions senior libero Gabriella Vitullo, playing her first season on the varsity, had never ended a match with an ace in her four years at St. Viator.

Not only did she accomplish that, Vitullo actually had the final two points for aces in the Lions’ 25-21, 25-11 triumph over a York team that entered the nonconference match at 13-2.

“We knew they (York) were really good,” said Vitullo, who played on the freshman “A” team and two years on the JV. “So we came out with a lot of energy. It was an amazing match. I’m so happy.

“I love serving. I was just trying to get the ball to the zone my coach told me and to finish the match.”

Vitullo finished the match with seven digs and three aces.

“She played fantastic,” Lions coach Charlie Curtin said. “She got those aces at the end, but she also had some huge digs in the middle. At one point she got a huge cover on a block, and she passed very, very well. So all around, it was an excellent match for her.

“She has put in the time, and she has relished the role. She is really enjoying the season.”

The Lions (9-3) enjoyed an 8-3 lead early in the first set when Mary Francl put down one of her five kills. Viator never looked back, ending the set on a kill from senior Erin Lynch. She got the set from Olive Meyers (11 assists), who ran the offense along with Rose Berlen (12 assists, one block).

Lynch (six digs, one ace) led the Lions’ attack with nine kills followed by Francl’s five kills, Olivia Walberg (four kills, one block) and Grace Geary (three kills, one block).

“I think Erin (Lynch) stepped up and played amazing,” Curtin said. “She had all her shots working. She hit from the back row and different areas on the court. She did very well.”

“It’s incredible,” Lynch said. “It’s really just the whole team putting the work in, in and outside of the gym. We have so much potential this year. We’ve been waiting for this season to come, and people are showing up to play.”

The Lions’ play in the second set was even more convincing, as they pulled away to a 16-7 lead behind six straight service points from Lynch.

“That was probably one of the biggest teams we’ve played,” said fifth-year York coach Danny Piwowarczyk. “Size-wise, I think three or four girls are over 6-feet tall, and we have zero over 6-0. We are very skilled. A lot of what we do comes from the effort we give defensively, the effort we give trying to find holes in the block.

“We try to get set the offense in a way we can find the holes and I thought (seniors) Audrey Faley (five kills) and Reese Timmerwilke (three kills) did an awesome job getting kills and finding holes. When we play bigger teams, we need our pins to find creative ways to get kills, and that’s what we’ll work on. We’ll coach them up.”

The Dukes were coming off a big three-set win (26-24 in the third) over Glenbard West.

“We came off a pretty big win on Tuesday,” Piwowarczyk said. “It was a match everyone wanted, and this was kind of like a letdown spot where we are on the road, coming to their gym, and they’re fired up to play us. We know they had a week to prepare for us. And props to them, they played amazing in both sets. They played very error-free ,and it’s going to be hard to beat teams like that.

“That’s why we put them on our schedule.”

The Lions put forward their best effort.

“Overall, I think that was probably our best match of the season,” Curtin said. “We were able to take care of all facets of the game.

“York is an awesome team. They’re well-coached, and being able to play like that against such a high-ranked team is fun. It shows what we have going forward.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250918/girls-volleyball/girls-volleyball-vitullo-st-viator-ace-difficult-nonconference-test-vs-york/