By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
It only took a few seconds after St. John’s win over Paul Vi when St. John’s senior Christine Gallart’s emotions finally came spilling out. The raucous cheer quickly transform into tears.
For on Tuesday night, despite the Cadets’ first win over the Panthers since 2005, despite the fact that St. John’s pulled out a five-game home thriller (25-20, 23-25, 25-21. 24-26, 15-12) there were still mixed emotions – especially for Gallart.
That’s because in the fourth game the Cadets lost something more valuable than a regular season game. They most likely lost senior setter Michelle Klontz for the rest of the season when Klontz fractured her right arm after colliding with a teammate while diving for a loose ball.
And for Gallart, she also lost her best friend.
“We came here to fight and we wanted to win so badly and then one of our teammates got hurt,” Gallart said. “We all came together.”
With her friend on the way to the hospital, Gallart delivered an inspired late-game performance. She scored seven of the Cadets’ 15 points in the decisive fifth game, including notching three kills and one block during one six-point span. Overall, she led St. John’s with 17 digs, 17 kills and three blocks.
“Christine has done that all long; we need big points and she’ll deliver,” St. John’s Coach Bill Pribac said. “I know she was going through a lot of emotion there. It was good to really see her come through when we need her too.”
St. John’s (12-4) had only beaten Paul VI (15-5) twice entering Tuesday’s match, the last time coming in the WCAC quarterfinals in 2005. Since then there’s been several five-game matches and too-many-to-count opportunities for the Cadets to win but it just hadn’t happened.
Last year Paul VI beat St. John’s in five games during both regular season meetings and in three games in the WCAC playoffs.
“This was the main team we needed to beat,” Gallart said. “We could win all the rest of the games. PVI was one bump we needed to get over.”
St. John’s came out strong behind junior Maya Louis (8 kills, 8 blocks, 9 aces) and freshman Darian Dozier (18 digs, 7 kills). Dozier finished off Game 1 with a lining kill right down the line. Paul VI responded in the second game, scoring five of the final eight points to even the match.
Gallart began to come alive in Game 3 and St. John’s held off a furious Paul VI comeback in which the Panthers won five straight points after being down 24-16.
Klontz’s injury came in Game 4 with St. John’s ahead, 17-14. After Klontz was helped off the gym floor, Pribac gathered his shaken team to deliver a message.
“I tried to tell them that they should be totally focused and know who they’re playing for,” Pribac said. “That might have been the wrong thing to say because I think some of them were about ready to cry.”
Paul VI won the next five points to take a 19-17 lead and never looked back, holding onto a 26-24 victory to force a fifth game.
“Personally it was really tough,” Louis said. “I couldn’t shake it off.”
Louis, who was dancing between games (even after ones she lost) was much more serious at the start of the final game. She came out hot though, scoring three of the Cadets’ first five points to give St. John’s an early 5-2 lead. Gallart scored the other two points.
Paul VI came back to maek the score 6-5 behind an ace by Patty Fabijancyk and the continued stellar play of Hayden Rossmann, Mandy Messier and MK Cook, in particular. But that’s when Gallart took over, dominating the second half of the decisive game to deliver St. John’s the victory.
“It’s nice, but with the loss of Michelle Klontz tonight it really puts things in perspective,” Pribac said. “I think at some point I’ll be able to enjoy it.”