Buseski powers Geneva past Wheaton Academy
When Tyler Sharkey delivered back-to-back aces to give Wheaton Academy a 13-10 first-set lead over Geneva in Tuesday's Geneva regional semifinals, the Warriors had the favored Vikings on their heels and out of sorts.
That's when Nick Buseski took over.
The 6-foot-8 outside hitter responded with eight kills in the next 15 Geneva points, helping the Vikings pull out a tight opening set, then drilled 10 more kills in the second set to propel the hosts to a 25-22, 25-16 victory. Geneva advances to the regional finals to face St. Charles North at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The scrappy Warriors, who finished the season with a 20-12 record, were the aggressors early on, having gained confidence that they could beat the Vikings after losing a closely contested three-set match 25-20, 23-25, 18-25 April 24 in West Chicago. Wheaton Academy used four aces, crisp offense and sharp passing and back-row play to hold Geneva at bay at the outset. The Warriors drew even as late as 22-22 on a Braden Martin kill, but ultimately Geneva's size and strength on the front row was too much to overcome. Buseski scored five straight points off left-side kills for the Vikings to push them in front 15-14, and Buseski provided two more kills sandwiched around a block kill by setter David Franz to close out the set in Geneva's favor.
Buseski's hitting exploits continued in the second set with 10 more kills as the Warriors, whose tallest front-row player is 6-3, struggled to find an answer for one of the top hitters in the area.
"They couldn't put a block on him, so I kept feeding him outside," said Franz, whose 28 assists were mostly set to Buseski. "He was really on tonight."
Geneva complemented Buseski's hitting prowess with strong blocking in the second set. After middle hitter Grant Copple's kill off a quick set from setter Eric Reid drew Wheaton Academy within 14-12, the Vikings bottled up the Warriors' offensive attack behind 6-5 middle hitter Jon Bishop (five blocks, four assisted blocks, three solos), while 6-4 middle hitter Sam Wulfkuhle capped the match with a solo block kill.
"They played big," Wheaton Academy coach D.A. Nichols said. "We knew they'd be trouble if they played big, and Buseski had a great game. We couldn't get in system in the second set, which made things tough. Part of the reason for that was their great blocking."
Martin led Wheaton with seven kills. Reid delivered 16 assists.
Geneva's win sets up a rematch with St. Charles North, which defeated the Vikings during the regular season and won the Upstate Eight Conference River title.
"I think it will be very competitive," Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. "We lost to them in three (sets) in April. Our guys really want to get them the second time around. It should be a great match."