WHEATON – While the Batavia girls volleyball team moved the ball around well on offense and played good defense, especially in the second game, the Bulldogs did not have enough to keep pace with powerhouse St. Francis, falling Thursday, 25-14, 25-23.

“A lot of our kids have never even seen this gym before,” Bulldogs coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. “And I think we played pretty good tonight. We play a pretty tough schedule every year for a reason. So, we were not intimidated by [St. Francis] at all. We knew what we were in for, though.”

The Bulldogs were close with the Spartans early in the opening game as the teams were tied at 5. However, the Spartans then went on a 5-2 run to stretch out to a 10-7 lead and then padded it to a 15-9 advantage behind the play of sophomore Maddie Haggerty (nine kills).