York's balance beats Batavia
No matter where York setters Katie Gallagher and Emily Iverson lofted the ball, Batavia knew a rocket was coming back at them.
The Bulldogs didn't know which player would be delivering it, and that balance from the Dukes was the difference in a 25-19, 25-23 victory Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Class 4A Bartlett sectional.
The second-seeded Dukes (32-4) will play No. 4 St. Charles East (27-10) for the sectional championship Thursday night the same matchup as the past two seasons that the Saints won both times.
York returns five starters from that 2009 sectional finalist, and Batavia had no answer for the likes of Caroline Rose (8 kills), Melissa Deatsch (8 kills), Morgan Semmelhack (6 kills) and Sam Schrenker (6 blocks, 2 kills).
“We knew every player is really good on their team,” Batavia senior outside Caitlin Piechota said. “We knew everyone was going to need to do what we could do on our side of the net to stop them and make them make mistakes.”
Third-seed Batavia didn't quite do that, not serving or blocking at the level they had for much of their 32-6 season.
“Our blocking really wasn't there tonight and part of it was the offense of York,” Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. “Their setters are good. we didn't know where they were going with the ball. We couldn't read them very well.”
York led throughout Game 1. Schrenker pounded a kill in the middle on the opening point to get the Dukes rolling.
Trippi-Payne took her first timeout down 17-11 after Schrenker's block. The Dukes took their biggest lead at 22-12 when Iverson set Rose on two consecutive points. Iverson also had the assist on game point to Deatsch.
Batavia didn't ace York once and serving had been a Bulldogs strength.
“We tried to hang with them,” Trippi-Payne said. “We couldn't get them out of system. They still have Rose hitting out of back row when they are out of system. They are tough and we knew that going in.”
Batavia held its only leads of the night early in Game 2 at 3-1. The Dukes went back in front at 5-4 and kept building their lead.
Down 24-18, Batavia made one last charge, one that forced York coach Patty Iverson to take both her timeouts. The Dukes had three hitting errors in the stretch as Batavia's back row kept points alive long enough for York mistakes.
Leading just 24-23, the Dukes turned to Rose in the back row, and her tipped ball off the top of Batavia's block sailed long to end the match.
“They changed their defense to play us better in the second game,” Patty Iverson said. “I thought we served them tough and got them out of their offense.
“We've always been everybody pretty much takes a part in the offense. It's good for us. If one person is having a tough day there's someone else to go to.”
Piechota (12 digs, 9 kills), Stephanie Kinane (11 digs), Mary Nilles (11 assists, 5 kills), Mary Kate Bryant (12 assists, 6 kills) and Kristen Koncelik (4 kills) led the Bulldogs, who won the Upstate Eight River Division title this year and their second ever regional championship.
“Game 1 we did not play the best we could,” Trippi-Payne said. “You saw our girls, they weren't going to give up, they kept fighting all the way to the end. It characterized our season. We fought every single match we played.”