Volleyball Recap: Vianney Falls Short Against Ranked De Smet Jesuit

Vianney faced De Smet Jesuit in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Golden Griffins lost 3-0 to the Spartans. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Spartans this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 3-0 back in April.

Vianney was held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the second set very close. The match finished with set scores of 25-16, 25-23, 25-19.

Mitchell Jugo

Attacks Kills

05/01/25 @ De Smet Jesuit	10
04/29/25 @ Chaminade	20
04/24/25 @ St. Louis University	19
04/22/25 @ Webster Groves	19
04/16/25 @ Eureka	28
+ 16 more games

Vianney's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Jack Brennell, who had ten digs and five assists, and Mitchell Jugo, who had ten kills and four digs. Jugo is on a roll when it comes to kills, as he's now had six or more in each of the last 21 games he's played dating back to last season.

De Smet Jesuit was led to victory by Rory Luina and Ryker Whittle. Luina had ten digs and four assists, while Whittle had three digs and two aces. Those four assists gave Luina a new career-high. Cole Esparza also deserves some recognition as he posted his first assist of the season.

Vianney's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 10-8-1. As for De Smet Jesuit, the victory (which was their 14th in a row) raised their record to 22-1.

Vianney wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next game, a 2-0 win against Howell on the 3rd. As for De Smet Jesuit, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 2-0 victory against Althoff Catholic on the 3rd.