Geneva comes from behind to oust Wheaton North
When Geneva coach K.C. Johnsen looked out on the court at Wheaton North during the Class 4A Geneva regional semifinals Thursday, it felt oddly familiar.
Turns out it's because those Falcons reminded him of the same team he has seen in practice the past three months.
“I thought it was an interesting match because they are very similar to us, very scrappy,” Johnsen said. “Both teams like to do the same things. It was kind of a mirror image of each other.”
Put two teams that similar together and you get an outcome as close as can be, one with 19 ties and 12 lead changes before the Vikings held off a late Falcons surge in Game 3 for a 22-25, 25-15, 25-22 come-from-behind victory.
Sixth-seed Geneva (23-13) will play No. 3 Batavia (31-5) for the regional championship at 1 p.m. Saturday while Wheaton North's season ends at 11-19.
Wheaton North started strong. The Falcons pulled out a back-and-forth Game 1 on Kelsey Ulrich's seventh kill of the game on game point.
After Riley Sullivan and Brooke Binette carried the Geneva attack in Game 1 with 12 of the team's 13 kills, Geneva found some help to even the match in Game 2.
Ashley Boser chipped in a pair of blocks and a kill in the second game. The Vikings never trailed, scoring the first four points for a bigger lead than either team had for all of Game 1.
“The first game we were really quiet and we weren't playing together,” Binette said. “We had to pick it up and play as a team. We concentrated on playing our game and our spots.”
Wheaton North coach Carole Kristensen said the way Geneva kept the Falcons off balance in the final two games was a turning point.
“They started to play a little bit of the tipping game,” Kristensen said. “To me the game of volleyball you go up and pass and hit. It's very frustrating when a team does that and they were able to get to us a little bit that way.”
The Falcons led a couple times early in Game 3, the final one at 13-12. One of 13 Wheaton North hitting errors in the match Geneva only had 7 tied the game at 13.
Geneva went ahead on the first of back-to-back blocks by Boser. The Vikings built their leads to 19-14 and 23-19 and looked ready to close the match, but a Geneva serving error, hitting error and Laura Drabant's kill had the Falcons within 23-22 and momentum on their side.
On the next rally, Wheaton North appeared to hustle to get a ball over only for a whistle to come in with a lift call. Instead of a possible 23-23 tie, Geneva took a 24-22 lead and ended the match on the next point.
“In the third game we had the momentum going and there were a couple really bad calls,” Kristensen said. “It's unfortunate to have calls like that made in a regional match.”
Geneva pointed to its increased energy in the final two games for their comeback. Sullivan and Binette finished with 15 and 13 kills, respectively, and Brooke Morphis set 34 assists.
“Our energy picked up a lot,” Johnsen said. “We just seemed flat in the first game. I thought the second two games we had the energy you expect to bring to a regional match.”
Boser's 6 blocks and 5 blocks by sophomore Taylor Otto, plus 23 digs from Ashleigh Shain and 17 by Sullivan led a scrappy defense that Johnsen has enjoyed coaching this year and is looking forward to seeing how they do in an underdog role against Batavia Saturday. The Bulldogs won the first meeting against Geneva in three games.
“The first game (against Batavia) we really didn't play well,” Binette said. “We really want another chance to come on and play our game.”
“This whole season has been a real enjoyable season because these kids were willing to battle,” Johnsen said. “They really try to go out and do what you say. It's not like we could overpower anyone, it's not like you can sit back and watch them roll over someone. I think it's fun for them playing that way too.
“They are not working any harder than those tremendous (recent Geneva) teams but they are working hard to figure out how they can be successful and it's fun to be part of that.”