Newcomers help Batavia edge Wheaton Academy

With two freshmen among the newcomers in an inexperienced Batavia starting lineup, Lori Trippi-Payne said to expect some ups and down in her 29th year as Bulldogs coach.

Batavia rode a roller coaster in its opening match of the season Wednesday, ending the night on a high note with a strong third set for a 25-15, 23-25, 25-16 victory over visiting Wheaton Academy.

Those freshmen - Julia Kim and Sam Juarez - played key roles in Batavia's win. Kim finished with 11 assists while Juarez made a couple spectacular digs during a match-deciding run late in the third set, totaling 10 digs in all.

Many of Kim's assists went to Sydney Cavanaugh who led both teams with 8 kills. Katelynn Fegan served 3 aces, Jenna Garrett had 6 assists, and juniors Micaela Hix and Roxy Vermaas both blocked 3 shots.

"I think the inexperience can help us because it's good to train younger girls for the next few years," said Vermaas, who delivered the last of her 6 kills on match point. "The freshmen did really well tonight. They handled the pressure well. We can be a good team. I think we can do a lot with them."

Batavia (1-0) led for almost the entire first set. Thomas served straight 4 points to open a 14-7 lead, twice setting Cavanaugh for kills during the run.

Wheaton Academy coach D.A. Nichols called timeout after Juarez served an ace that made it 17-8. The timeout didn't do much to slow the Bulldogs who closed the set on Maddy Astling's kill.

"I thought we served really well in that first set and it made a difference for us," Trippi-Payne said. "It kind of helped us they couldn't get their offense going."

The Warriors did late in the second set. With Batavia poised to end the match up 22-18, again Nichols called timeout and this time his team responded with a 7-1 run to win the set.

Wheaton Academy took the momentum from its comeback into the third set, quickly taking a 3-0 lead on Anna Aloisio's kill.

"That third set we didn't start out strong," Trippi-Payne said. "We had some miscommunication. All of a sudden Darby (Findley) and Katelynn (Fegan) got on those two serving runs and that really helped a lot."

Findley served four points in a row as Batavia turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 lead, the start of an 18-4 flurry to take control. Fegan, a captain on the team along with Cavanaugh and Garrett, had a 7-point run moments later to make it 22-10 as Batavia closed the match impressively.

"We have a lot of kids who haven't played varsity volleyball before," Trippi-Payne said. "You are going to see a little bit of that adjustment period. This is a great way to start."

Aloisio, Ingrid Prichard and Elizabeth Melby all had 7 kills for the Warriors, who graduated 10 seniors. Alecia Funk set 26 assists.

"We will keep growing," Nichols said. "I just told them to be aggressive, be confident, don't worry about mistakes. We shot ourselves in our foot a little, but I told them nothing disappointed me tonight."