St. John's Prep seeded No. 2 in volleyball tourney

By Mike Grenier
Staff Writer

May 20, 2008 11:28 pm

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The St. John's Prep volleyball team finished the regular season with a 16-4 record. By the Eagles' high standards, it was a little bit of a disappointment.

"It's not the kind of season we're used to having, so I guess we're a little spoiled," said St. John's Prep coach Andrew Viselli, whose team is 207-24 with two state championships since 1999.

The Eagles' 16-4 mark was still good enough to get them the No. 2 seed in the MIAA North Volleyball Tournament. St. John's will play in the quarterfinals Tuesday at home (7 p.m.) against the winner of Saturday's Central Catholic-Andover match. The Prep went a combined 4-0 against Central Catholic and Andover in the regular season.

There's still time for the Eagles to elevate their game and get on a roll, said Viselli.

"We played more games this year than in previous seasons," said Viselli, whose team lost to Natick in the state semfinals last year. "We'll take those experiences and put them to work for us. Central and Andover are both tough and everyone wants to beat us. There's no easy way out for us, but I think we'll be ready."

St. John's Prep is led by veterans Sean Bishop, Phil Ellison and Jeff Smallcomb, but two of them changed positions this season. Bishop switched from opposite to setter while Ellison made the transition from middle hitter to outside hitter. Smallcomb is the middle hitter.

Chelmsford is the No. 1 seed in the tourney by virtue of a 19-1 record.